


Cardboard Castles

by hungering_heart



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Age Difference, Eventual Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Roommates, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2019-07-13 15:43:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 42,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16020995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hungering_heart/pseuds/hungering_heart
Summary: Once Max turned 18 at the end of interning one summer at Camp Campbell, he decided to move in with David instead of going back to his parents’ house. Well... just until he can make enough money to live on his own, of course.





	1. All I Need Is One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's David's first day back to work, which means his unemployed roommate Max gets to spend the day however he pleases.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello folks! I'm super stoked for this fic. It's gonna be a slow ride so hold on. Here’s some background: When Max was 10, David was 20 - so I'm changing David's age in canon to 20 instead of 24.  
> In this fic, Max just turned 18, which makes David 27. they're between 9-10 years apart, depending on birthdays and such. I mostly did this because its more believable for a 27 year old ray of sunshine to be living alone in an apartment, over a 32 year old.  
> if you're still confused, lmk! i'll clear it up next chapter or something, lol!  
> Please let me know what ya'll think! If you don't like it, please don't ruin anyone else's experience by posting rude comments or something. Just don't read it please ;~; thanks!!!!

“Maaax,” a voice sung, ever so lightly.

There was no response from the young man who was sleeping on the couch.

“Maaaaaax,” the other man smiles, a bit louder this time, followed by a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

This sparked up a response, the boy letting out a short, aggressive groan as he pulls the quilt over himself in a poor attempt at moving the unwanted hand away.

“I made breakfaaaast,” he smiles.

The boy stayed still for several moments before he peeked his head out from under the quilt that was wrapped around his body, “why?” he manages to get out, voice all groggy from sleep.

“Oooh…. Don’t be that way! C’mon. I made bacon and everythiiiing!” He sings, putting his hands together like some kind of poor excuse of an alter boy - heh.

Max sat up, his eyes squinting from the morning light that was starting to shine through the curtain. He looks over to the kitchen and takes a deep breath in to the aroma of what breakfast smells like to normal families. David, who was sitting at the edge of the couch to wake him up, places a hand on top of the boy’s head and musses his curls, which were already tangled from sleep. The man gets up and goes back over to the kitchen where he starts to prepare a dish for Max, it looked like.

“Why are you dressed?” The boy asks lightly, before rubbing his eyes.

“Oh - I’ve got work, silly.”

“Fuck. That’s right.”

“I’m so excited for all my new students. I have a feeling it’s going to be a VERY good year for sixth grade social studies!”

Max didn’t have to ask before the man spit out, “I’m the division lead this year! Gosh, I am just so excited!” He beams, bringing over two plates and a coffee mug in the crook of his arm. He hands one plate to Max - which was filled with more food than the boy could ever eat in one sitting - and then hands him the mug of black coffee. He keeps the second plate for himself as he sits down next to the boy, loosely crossing his unusually long legs as he does. He starts to work at a small pile of blueberries, Max working at his bacon.

They sat in silence for quite some time, completely comfortable with each other’s presence. They _have_ been living together for nearly three months now, including their two together at camp. They’ve grown quite used to each other and their quirks, which probably aided Max in the move to David’s apartment in the first place. He liked the man. As annoyingly radiant, cheerful, and nitpicky as he was - he made Max feel at home. Safe. And maybe that’s just because they’ve known each other for over 10 years now (Max started going to camp at age 8). Or maybe it’s because there was no yelling in David’s home. No fights or neglect. A comfortable place to sleep with handmade quilts and pillows. Gentle wake up calls instead of yelling and slamming doors. Fuck, even breakfast made for him in the mornings. He felt safe. He’d also never tell David this in a million years. That would boost his ego so far up the man’s ass, he wouldn’t be able to sit for a week, simply because he was so overjoyed.

From the corner of Max’s still adjusting eyes, he could tell David was staring his way. He met his gaze, the man smiling, “it it any good?”

Max just nods lightly and adds, “yeah. Thanks.”

The joy filled into David’s whole body, which would normally just affect someone’s face, “I’m so glad to hear it,” he pauses a moment before adding, “you know, I’m surprised you didn’t wake up to all the ruckus. I was fairly loud this morning.”

He shrugs, “I’m a deep sleeper.” Of course he was - he had to be in a family where everyone yelled at one another from across the house.

“Oh - well I could tell you that one. Towards the end of the summer, it was near impossible to get you out of the bed in the morning,” he laughs, popping another few blueberries into his mouth like pills.

Max cracks a light smile as he picks up a pancake with his hands and starts to bite at it. David knew he liked his pancakes plain, so he didn’t bother coating them with anything - the thought of _that_ made him more happy than the fact that he was a deep sleeper.

David starts to work at his own pancake - maple syrup, butter, _and_ powdered sugar. He liked it sweet, just as he was. He looks out the window as he chews, taking a deep breath as he swallowed. He smiled, turning back to Max, “gosh. I’m so excited you’re here. And that I’m going to work again!”

Max rolled his eyes, despite a light smile forming, “David. I’ve _been_ here. Almost, like, a month now.”

“Oh geez! A whole month already? I’m going to need to get you a little gift or something!”

Max raises an eyebrow, looking at him, “the fuck you getting me a gift for? Not like it’s a fucking anniversary or anything,” he grumbles, eyes falling back down to his plate.

“Well - it very much is to me,” he smiles, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve absolutely LOVED sharing a living space with you! You’re a delight to have around. And I know Smokey loves all the attention you give him during the day.”

Max decides to change the subject, “where _is_ that fat fucking oaf?”

David smiles, “he’s probably still sleeping on my bed. You know how he is. Always _cat_ naps with that one.”

“Oh my gooooood,” the boy groans in response, although he still smiled.

David laughed, before he checked his watch, “oh geez - I should probably get going. Don’t wanna be late on the first day back - that would be a total disaster!” He laughs, getting up and wandering back over to the kitchen. He cleans up his plate and all, before getting a few things from his room. He comes back out, his messenger bag slung over his shoulders, “hey, would you mind cleaning up breakfast, please?” God. The strap of his bag clung so tight to his chest, his dress shirt tugging juuuust right - Max averted his gaze, “yeah, sure.”

“Thanks, Max!” He smiles, “okay - I’ll see you after work. I should be home by at MOST 4 o’clock today.”

“Alright,” the boy responds, eyes still cast down.

“Okay,” he says, grabbing his keys from a bowl he kept at the bar by the door, “I’ll see you later!”

But just as David was about to leave, Max adds, “hey - send me your schedule n’ shit, will you? Like what time each class starts and when you got lunch or conference periods or whatever.”

“Oh! Sure thing, bud,” he smiles, “I’ll send that to you as soon as possible. Bye, Max!”

And like that, he was gone. The apartment got significantly quieter and less lively. Max stayed in the same spot as he picked at his breakfast, eyes falling closed again with exhaustion - he wasn't used to getting up _this_ early.

He finished up what he could of the massive plate David prepared for him, placing it on a side table before lounging back. His eyes fell to the window on his right. He had one job today - clean up breakfast. He could do that. Easy. He's not as lazy as he comes across.

Definitely not.

Definitely…

Max jolts awake as Smokey starts to knead at the boy’s face - in the act of jolting up, Smokey practically goes flying across the room with a high pitched yowl of discomfort.

“Dude! The fuck!” Max yells in direction of the cat, who promptly ran into the safety of David’s room, “oh - come back here, you fucking coward! I didn't _mean_ to hurl you across the room,” he says, despite not making an effort to actually get the feline. He sits there for several moments before looking over to the window - it was bright out. Had he fallen asleep? He checks his phone, the thing reading out “12:08”. Well fuck. Hopefully all the food David left out hasn't gone bad.

He throws the blanket to the side, shivering just a tad before he got up. He wasn’t used to his skin being exposed as it was right now - t-shirt and pj shorts instead of his usual hoodie and jeans.

He goes over to the kitchen and starts to clean up - everything was fine but the butter. It looked all hardened and gross. He decided to trash it.

Once he cleaned up completely, he checked his phone again: 12:44. He also had several texts from David. He hops up on the countertop to read through them:

 

_Camp Man:_

_Hi, Max! Here's my schedule as per your request:_

_First period: 7:50-8:39_

_Second period: 8:44-9:32_

_Third period: 9:37-10:25_

_Fourth period: 10:30-11:18 (conference)_

_Lunch: 11:23-11:53_

_Fifth period: 11:58-12:46_

_Study Hall: 12:51-1:18_

_Sixth period: 1:23-2:12 (conference)_

_Seventh period: 2:17-3:05_

 

_How are you holding up? I bet it's weird being at the apartment all alone, haha!!_

 

_All my students are amazing. The 6th graders are so sweet. There's a foreign exchange student in my second period named Mateo and he's very spunky and sassy like you were at that age. (You still are!)_

 

_One of my students was talking about how her boyfriend cheated on her this summer!! What the gosh darn heck!!!! These kids are 11!!!! No one should be kissing!!!_

 

_Did you kiss anyone at 11?_

 

_Sorry! That was a very personal question. I just figured, you’re much closer in age to these kids than I am, so maybe you'd know a thing or two._

 

_I didn't pack a lunch today, so I had to get a salad from the lunch line. There was a frog in my salad. I am no longer going to be purchasing food from the cafeteria, and the school board will be getting a very lengthy letter._

 

Max smiles, reading this all through. He types out several variations of the same message before concluding on one:

_Max Khatri:_

_thanks for the schedule. im doing fine. slept in after breakfast and the butter went bad. sorry. ill pay for the replacement._

 

He waits a moment before deciding on another one:

_Max Khatri:_

_i didn't kiss anyone but there was people i always wanted to make out with. didn't until i was 14 so those kids are wilding._

 

Max hops off the counter and saunters back over to the couch, where he plops down.

It was quiet.

The whole situation felt wrong - David wasn't there to nag at him or to vacuum or tell the same story over and over. Max looks around for something to do, another text came in.

 

_Camp Man:_

_I told the frog story to my fifth period and some of the girls screamed in disgust. Should I have done that? Am I a bad person? I promptly apologized but everyone was laughing anyways. Let's hope I don't get any parent emails my first week of school._

 

Max chuckles to himself before writing out:

_Max Khatri:_

_did you get anything to eat dude?_

 

It's only seconds later when he gets the reply:

_Camp Man:_

_No. Only water. I might stop by and pick up something on the way home if you'd like?_

 

The boy pauses a moment, an idea forming in his head. He grins as he types out:

_Max Khatri:_

_nah ill pick something up so you can eat as soon as you get home. sound good?_

 

_Camp Man:_

_Yes, that would be wonderful! You're the best!!! Ok, I have to go. My study hall kids are coming in. Anything you want for dinner is good with me!!! Hugs!!_

 

Max rolls his eyes to how David signs his fucking texts off. Dumbass.

The boy popped up from the couch and back over to the kitchen where he started to search through the cabinets and fridge to see what they had. He definitely needed butter - duh. He made a mental list of the things he needed, reciting it in his head as he stripping from his clothes and into new ones. He shoves his dirty ones into the washing machine - David and him basically used it as a hamper. Once he's dressed, brushed his teeth, and attempted at fixing his curly locks, he takes his backpack and keys and heads out. As he comes down the old staircase, his dirtied Air Force Ones slap the cracking concrete with awful sloshes - it must have rained last night. He comes around the side of the building towards the parking lot and finds his motorcycle. He smiles to himself as he sees it - he loved it more than anything else in the whole wide world. He spent so much time saving up for this thing, and _god_ was it worth it. He straddles the seat, tightens his backpack, and takes off down the slick road. The wind pushes his curls out of his face, as well as pushes through the fabric of his hoodie, making his chest and stomach cold. It didn't help that a cold front was coming in, signalling the change to autumn.

He pulls up to their local Walmart, parking his motorcycle to the side of a Smart Car near the front of the store. Even with the two in one spot, there was still plenty of room.

As he goes inside, he's greeted by a wave of cold air, sending a shiver down his spine. He grabs a cart and treks straight through the store towards the grocery section. He thinks to himself as he goes up and down the aisles - butter. Pick that up last. And creamer, since David was nearly out.

He had to think of a dish David would like - the man really liked homebody foods like stews and casseroles. But no meat. David, of course, was a vegetarian.

Max picked out all the things he needed, running over the list in his head. Onions, potatoes, garam masala, paprika, and peas. They had the rest at the apartment. Maybe he could add paneer in there too? He thought it over before finally deciding on just getting it. He takes his cart and heads out - and of course, he didn’t forget the butter and creamer.

As he strolled the cart back to the front of the store, he passed a rather fine looking leather jacket in the menswear that caught his eye. He hesitates a moment, looking it over.

No. He could never wear that. Realistically, he doesn't wear anything but his hoodies. He's owned other, more fashionable items of clothing, but he would always just end up wearing his same hoodie and jeans.

He checked out at the self-checkout, as he didn't want to interact with any nosy old women asking him what his girlfriend was cooking for them, and laughing about how she must have sent him on the trek. Cunts.

He took the bags, shoving it all in the compartments on his bike, before taking off again. The wind whipped his hair, and cut through his hoodie. He really needed better protection on his torso - it was only going to get colder and colder up here.

He gets back to the apartment, checking his phone after he puts all the things on the countertop. One text from David:

 

_Camp Man:_

_Hey! Sorry to bother you again. But if you're out, would you mind picking me up some creamer? I’m running low!_

 

Max smiled - he felt his cheeks heat up just a tad - with that, he practically threw his phone across the room, the thing landing safely on the couch.

He rolled his sleeves up, “Alexa.”

She hums a response.

“Shuffle songs by Watsky.”

“Sure. Shuffling songs by Watsky on Spotify.”

_One tape in the deck_

_One way to connect (all I need is one)_

_One moment alone_

_One reason to roam_

_One place I call home (all I need is one)_

_One tick on the clock_

_One trick up my sleeve_

_One thing to believe (all I need is one)_

_One person to love_

_One verse and one prayer_

For one person who cares (all I need is one)

“Maaax!” A voice sings, “I’m hooome!”

The boy peeks his head out of the kitchen, while David raises a brow, staying in place, “did… You cook something..? It smells awfully amazing in here.”

“Yeah. Check it,” the boy says, showing him a plate of food over the bar. One side of the dish was rice, the other a stew looking food. Max explains, “it's an Indian dish my mom used to make sometimes for special occasions. I’ve been craving it lately sooooo. I whipped it up.”

Max swears he saw tears forming in David’s eyes, “oh my god - Max!” he grins. David immediately puts his bag down to the side, sitting up at the bar, “it smells amazing. I'll be honest - I haven't tried many traditional Indian dishes. Other than Tikka Masala,” he states, accepting the plate Max handed him through the kitchen window over the bar.

“Yeah. Most white people don't. This is called Aloo Matar. It's pretty good. No meat.”

David takes a bite - he pauses a moment, Max himself holding his breath to see the man’s reaction. After a beat, the man’s whole body melted, letting out a satisfied moan that sent waves down Max’s body. He grinned.

“This is _so_ good. You never told me you could cook!”

He shrugs, “I can't. I only know, like, three fucking recipes from the times my mom would have me help make dinner for parties n shit.”

“Well it certainly paid off! Gosh!” he happily starts to scarf it down, Max serving up his own plate and sitting next to him, “glad you like it. Had to go to the store. I picked up your creamer. And some more butter since the other one fucking fossilized,” he states, popping the fork into his mouth. Fuck, he missed good food.

“Thank you! I’ll pay you back.”

“Nah. Don't worry about it. It's the least my lazy ass could do.”

David laughs, “well you don't seem lazy to me. You cooked dinner - and it looked like you cleaned up the apartment too…?” He almost asks, making sure.

“Oh - yeah. I cleaned the stuff that was in the washing machine and put that shit away. I cleaned up the kitchen and I cleaned up all my fucking garbage in the living room. I vacuumed too. Took Smokey's litter out. Random useless shit.”

“Gosh! And _I_ didn't even have to ask. Guess a day without me bossing you around was good for you,” he grins, rustling up Max’s curls. The boy just rolls his eyes, “god. Shut up and eat the damn food before it gets cold.”

David smiles, letting out a very light, “okay, Max,” returning his attention back to the plate in front of him. He was already nearly done, but Max decided to not say anything.

Once they were done, David absolutely _insisted_ on cleaning up the kitchen, telling Max to go relax. The boy just rolled his eyes and wandered to go take a shower, taking the excuse to do less work.

Max turned on the shower head, the thing spitting to life after a few seconds delay. As it heated up, Max grabbed a clean set of clothes from his duffle bag (David had offered to make room in his own dresser for Max’s things, but the boy refused. He didn't want to get _too_ comfortable here.) and wandered back to the bathroom, bringing his phone in with him. He didn't take David as the snooping type, but he didn't want to take any chances.

He locks the door behind him, and strips himself of his clothes. Fuck. Had he gained weight? He bit his lip as he peered at himself through the mirror. He had a bit of a belly going - David had been feeding him far too much and far too good. He sighs, taking himself in before the mirror fogged up from the immense heat of the shower. He stepped in, immediately started to lather himself in. He didn’t get the point of long showers. They were a waste of time and money. He did, however, _really_ enjoy hot showers. As he lathered himself up, he watched the suds slide down his body and get sucked down into the drain. He took a deep breath in. And then out. He felt the water sting his back, closing his eyes at the immense heat. It felt fucking amazing - relaxing and comfortable.

After his shower, he dried off his hair and changed into a pair of sweatpants and his hoodie, barely taking the effort to even dry his curls off. David was sitting on the couch, still in his work clothes as he did. He had his laptop out, mostly looking like he was browsing as he wasn’t doing much typing. Max plops down next to him, and peers over the man’s shoulder to his screen: some tacky looking quilting site with awful graphic design choices.

David looks over at Max and smiles, “I need more materials to make another quilt. You seem to like the ones on the couch here so much,” he nods to the blankets shoved up behind them, which David hadn't gotten around to folding yet like he always does after Max rolls out of bed.

“Dude. _You_ made those? How fucking old are you, grandma?”

He grins, “well, my grandmother did teach me.”

“What the fuck.”

“Yup! Every few years, my folks would host these big family Christmases,” he starts, looking back to the screen as he scrolls through some fabric website, “she made us all these cute personalized quilts and - gosh! I totally fell in love!”

“Okay, okay. Tone it the fuck down, Old Woman Meredith. How come you never told me _you_ were the tired old hag behind these raggedy old things?”

David’s ears get red, smiling almost embarrassingly, “well. You never told me you knew how to cook. So I guess we’re even now!”

Max furrows his brows despite a slight smile on his face, before slumping back in the sofa and grabbing the TV remote. He turns the thing on with a single click, attempting to draw his attention away from the man sitting only a foot away, browsing fabrics and threads, that _somehow_ seemed to leave him so enthralled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> make sure to follow me in tumblr @hungering-heart! feel free to send me asks on the chapter or just in general abt the fic! i might take a few art requests too if i get the time 0v0


	2. All Like Whatever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes the most arbitrary of things can send your heart soaring.

The sound of rain pattered at the living room window, slowly bringing the boy into the waking world. As Max opened his groggy eyes, he observed at how quiet the room was despite the noise of nature taking its path. He takes a deep breath in - David must have already gone to work. He sits up and peers out the window through sheer curtains.

Shit. It was going to be one of those days, huh.

He stretched his arms up above his head for several moments, slumping back on the couch. He grabs at his phone on the armrest, unplugging it. The time read 11:42. There were a few texts from David.

 

_Camp Man:_

_Good morning, Max! Although it might be afternoon by the time you wake up. Hope you have a good Tuesday day before I see you in the evening. There’s leftover breakfast in the fridge if you’re hungry. Also cereal. Also eggs. And toast too!_

 

_Be careful if you go out today. The roads are really slick!_

 

_I packed some of that dinner you made for lunch. Does it reheat well, or should I just eat it cold or something? Any way, it will be just as spectacular. Again - thank you so much for the meal last night. It means the world to me. Although… Now that I know you can cook, I might have you make me more foods ;-)_

 

Max’s heart fluttered ever so lightly. He took a breath before typing out a response:

_Max Khatri:_

_i mean sure but i aint no goddamn house wife. also ive found that indian food reheats really good. sometimes it tastes better reheated than it did originally._

 

David texted nearly seconds after.

_Camp Man:_

_Oh gosh! I’m so sorry if I made you feel bad. You never have to cook again if you don’t want to!_

 

Max rolls his eyes. Fucking dumbass.

_Max Khatri:_

_dude im fucking joking lighten up. ill fucking cook you a damn buffet if you want._

 

Seconds later, another text comes through.

_Camp Man:_

_Well darn. Now I’d just feel bad. How about we cook together! That would be so fun!_

 

Max considers this a moment, writing several drafts before he finally concludes on:

_Max Khatri:_

_no way. that kitchen is a one-butt kitchen. get in my way and ill let you starve._

 

Another few seconds pass:

_Camp Man:_

_Oh shoot. I’ll stay out of your way then. I do NOT want to risk that. Your foodstuffs far too heavenly!_

 

Max grins, typing out:

_Max Khatri:_

_dude get to fucking class_

 

_Camp Man:_

_Oh - I have lunch right now!_

 

_Max Khatri:_

_dont you got teacher shit to do instead of texting me. arent you the division leader or whatever._

 

_Camp Man:_

_Everything’s done. It IS only the second day of school. I’d rather be talking to you than pretending like I’m grading papers :-)_

 

Max takes a deep breath in, cheeks reddening. This fucker really did know how to make a hardass weak. He stands up, going to the kitchen where he starts to brew a cup of coffee in David’s Keurig machine.

 

_Max Khatri:_

_no teacher friends? or pesky students who have no friends so they sit in their teacher’s classroom during lunch?_

 

_Camp Man:_

_Again. I’d rather be texting you._

 

Is this dude fucking for real? Max shakes his head lightly, watching the coffee spurt out from the machine and into a standard brown mug that had thousands of identical ones being sold as sets in Nordstrom’s. David was too fancy for mismatched mugs, it seemed. After it filled, he took it back over to the living room. He moved the curtains back for a moment, before deciding to draw them back to cover the windows again, despite the real lack of light change. He slouches down on the couch again, getting back to David.

 

_Max Khatri:_

_well damn thats good because id rather be texting you then whatever bullshit im supposed to be doing round here_

 

As David replied, he looked up from his phone, “hey, Alexa?”

She hums a response.

“Shuffle songs by Watsky.”

“Sure. Shuffling songs by Watsky on Spotify.”

_La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la_

_La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la_

_I look at you and I'm all like whatever_

_I think of you and I'm all like whatever_

_I dream of you and I'm all like whatever I got to do_

_Whatever I got to do_

_Yeah, maybe I think about you sometimes_

_Yeah, maybe I think you're pretty alright_

_Yeah, maybe It'd be decent if we linked up_

_Fuck, am I crazy for thinking of you all night?_

_I scroll through every picture that you took, so what?_

_I picture how our kids would look, so what?_

_I drew a picture of us in my notebook, so what?_

_So what I wrote a song about you, let's not go nuts_

After David had gone back to his actual job, Max turned the TV on, his sour mood returning. Nothing was on today. Mindless shows for people trying to forget the tragedies of their imperfect lives. Shows that people turn on for noise after everyone in the family has left for good, leaving the home completely quiet despite the man talking from hushed speakers.

He groaned, pulling his phone out. Even though he knew he wouldn’t have any texts from David, he still felt disappointed. He could always text him first? No. There’s nothing to even text him about.

He opens up the YouTube app, browsing for several minutes. Nothing seemed interesting there either, even with the extremely advanced algorithms Google has put inside of YouTube’s ‘recommended section’. He slouched down on the couch.

David would know how to get him off his feet. Not like he had anything to go do today.

Fuck, he had it bad.

Max got up, stretching his arms and back out, letting out a yawn. After several minutes, his whole body relaxes again. He walks over to David’s bedroom door that was propped open for Smokey. Where was that cat, anyways? He opened the door, peering in. The bed was made, as it always was, the cat lying on an old flattened pillow on the end of the bed. Yup. There he is. He loved that damn spot. The curtains were drawn back, although little to no sun came through as it was still raining.

Max comes in, and starts to peer at everything in his room. Was this an invasion of privacy? Definitely. He looked at all the photos he had tacked on the wall next to his bed, most of him at camp or of his family, but there were quite a few artistic shots as well. One of the photos caught his eye; he leaned over the bed to take a closer look. It was a polaroid of the two of them. The older of the two was grinning as always, arm draped around Max comfortably. Max looked either very flustered or like he was repressing anger. Both Max’s earlobes were pierced with tiny starter studs, which indicates he must have been around 14. There’s honestly not much else to tell his development from then. The boy was still rather small for a legal adult.

As Max examined the rather cluttered wall, he found more polaroids of them hanging out. There were two taped together - Max was appearing to read a book or something, attention away from David, and in the one to the right, he was grinning and shoving his middle finger out towards the camera. Max grinned at himself, laying flat on the bed as he looked over all the pictures, each telling their own little story.

There was one of David trying on a pair of shutter shades, grinning goofily.

An artistic one of a bouquet of flowers smashed on the floor.

There was one of Gwen wearing a pair of New Years 2010 glasses.

A family photo where all of them were redheads.

An action shot of Nikki chasing Neil with a poison ivy leaf.

A photo of David and a group of faculty members, with a banner that read “Welcome Sleepy Peak Middle School Staff”.

There was another photo of him and two other people Max didn’t recognize - a tall, caramel skinned man with forest green eyes, and an older brunette women with blue eyes.

There was a candid of Max, laying in the grass. His arms were behind his head, looking the opposite direction of the camera, while his legs were up, yet crossed.

There was a photo of David and that kid Jasper, probably from when he was still alive. They had fingers dragging down their bottom eyelid, sticking their tongues out to the camera.

And somehow, in the flurry of images Max was looking through, he fell asleep again.

As Max opened his eyes, he found himself looking up to David’s ceiling, laying across the bed. Fuck. He needed to stop taking so many naps and face reality like an actually responsible adult. But - he couldn't. Not when he awoke with a handmade quilt draped over him ever so perfectly. He lets out a sigh, before flipping to lay on his stomach. God, an actual bed felt so fucking comfortable. He faced the window, bringing the quilt up to cover his head, face barely peeking out from the blanket. It was still fucking raining. He takes a deep breath in, David’s natural scent filling his whole body up. He smelled of pine needles and cinnamon. Max smiled ever so lightly, letting his eyes fall closed, taking in the sound of the rain. He wished someone’s arms were draped around him comfortably right now, like in that photo of him and David on the wall.

Goddamn, now he really knew why there were so many stay-at-home-wives. He’d love to stay at home and tend to their tiny ass apartment all day if it meant getting to lay in this bed at night, with a certain someone’s arms around him comfortably.

Speaking of.

The door to the room squeaks open just a tad, David slipping in. He peers at Max as he comes into the boy’s line of sight, headed towards his closet. He sees the boy was awake and smiles. He comes over to the end of the bed, crouching down to be at eye level with Max, “hiya, sleepy head.”

Max grumbles a very quiet response, despite smiling ever so lightly.

David starts to pet Smokey, who looked as if he didn't move the entire time Max was napping, “you've been sleeping a lot lately in the past two days. Maybe you’re catching up on rest, but… gosh. I can’t help but be a little concerned.”

Max nods, “jus’ tired I guess.”

David stays quiet for a moment, his attention returning to the cat who started purring rather loudly to the touch, “I guess you _are_ still growing.”

“What the hell are you talking about? I haven’t grown a fuckin’ centimeter since I was, like, 14. I’m the size of a goddamn high school freshman,” he grumbles out, voice still groggy from sleep.

David laughs, “sure. But you’re still a teenager, and teenagers need lots and lots of rest. And food. Did you eat anything today, bud?”

Max stays quiet a moment, thinking it over, “no. Guess I forgot.”

“Oh! Well geez. Wanna’ go out somewhere for dinner? I’ll pay,” he smiles.

“Is it dinner time already?”

David nods, checking his watch. Smokey looks up at him, disturbed by the lack of attention, obviously, “fifteen until five. So… yes.”

Max is quiet for several minutes before he finally gets out, “not really in the mood to go anywhere. Can we just order takeout?”

David smiles, “sure, Max. Pizza?”

“Uhhhh. Was thinking Chinese.”

David lights up, “oh! Yeah! I’ll go get the menu!” he beams, standing up - his knees pop as he did. They always fucking do when he’s getting up from a crouch. He exits the room, and rustles around in the kitchen before returning with an old beat up menu riddled with poor design choices, a sticky-note pad, and a pen. Max sits up, putting his arm out, signalling that he wanted to see it. David, instead, sits down next to him. Like - _right_ next to him. Hips touching close.

“They have really really good crab rangoon here,” he states, pointing to them on the menu, “and sesame chicken, but that’s a given,” he grins before handing him the trifold menu.

Max takes it, and looks it over while David writes down what he wanted on the sticky note. He wrote in cursive like some kind of middle school girl - Max swears he’s seen him put hearts over his letter i’s.

After he wrote what he wanted, he looks up at Max, who was still busy looking over the menu, “what do you want?”

“Um… just wonton soup,” he says, looking up to meet David’s gorgeous eyes. They were quiet for several moments, just staring at one another, taking in each other’s presence. Max’s face was starting to heat up. He probably looked like shit, huh? Especially this close to David - mere _inches._

The redhead speaks up, looking a little embarrassed, “oh gosh... Sorry. Repeat what you wanted? I was zoning out just a tad.”

“Uh - wonton soup,” Max says, eyes darting back down to the menu, pointing to it on the menu. No confusion. He didn’t want to fucking say it again.

“Right! Gosh. Nothing else? I know you like those veggie spring rolls,” he states, writing it down on the sticky-note.

“Nothing else. I’m gonna steal some of your food though,” Max states, a devious grin forming on his face.

“Well, that’s the best part of take-out! You get to share it!” David grins, standing up, He takes the menu from Max, “I’ll go call this in. While I’m gone - think about a movie you wanna watch.”

“Oh?”

“Yup! It’s movie night,” he smiles, “and _you_ get to decide what we’re watching first. Be right baaack!” He sings, leaving the room.

The boy hides his grin, although there was no one in the room to question it. He moves his attention to the window that was blurred from raindrops hitting. He sighs. Mere inches.

 

After David ordered, he changed into more comfortable clothes while Max set up the living room for a movie. Max decided to not scare David with another horror movie. Although - he did kind of like David clinging onto him every time the suspenseful music acted up. Like Max could protect him from a threat, even though there was no real danger. He knew David didn’t like those films, though, and he’d much rather have him be comfortable than to play into his own crush. Not that he’d ever admit that to another human soul. Instead, Max chose out a tame movie: _Whiplash_. David surprisingly had never seen it before, but he was seemingly enjoying it so far.

Their food arrived soon enough, the two pausing the movie while they got their plates situated. Once ready, David sat back down at the couch, Max sitting on the floor, back up against the sofa. He liked that spot - he didn’t have to worry about being mere inches away from David, as he seemed to like to sit close.

Sometime towards the later half of the movie, after they had finished their dinner, David moved over on the couch to where he was sitting with his legs on either side of Max and started to run his hands through the boy’s hair.

Max tensed up - he wasn’t used to people playing with his hair, but that was something David often tended to do. He didn’t object though, slowly calming himself down. God, his long fingers felt good in his hair; tugging lightly at the already messy curls, gentle fingers massaging his tender skin. Max closed his eyes - he couldn’t even focus on the movie. He wondered what it might feel like if David moved his hands down slowly, until they were inside of Max’s shirt, resting on his chest. Max let out a very long breath at the thought.

The redhead heard this and got alerted, “you okay?” he asks lightly, tilting his body to the side to better see Max’s face.

The boy opens his eyes and stares up at him, “oh - yeah. Am I not allowed to breathe?”

David grins, “you’re allowed to breath, silly. It just - well - never mind,” he smiles, returning his attention back up to the movie, hands working in the boy’s curls again. Max couldn’t help but keep smiling for a number of different reasons. Fuck a redhead named David.

Once the movie ended, the storm outside started to pick up again, teasing at thunder in the distance. David took his hands out of the boy’s hair and stretches up while Max took their dishes into the kitchen. It was quiet. A good, comfortable kind of quiet though. Not the kind of quiet that came after a screaming match, patrons leaving to opposite ends of the house after. It was _too_ nice, which kind of caught Max off guard. He tried to not let himself get too distraught over his living situation being healthy.

After dishes, he comes back over to the couch and sits down criss-crossed next to David, who had let himself fall backwards after his stretch.

“You wanna watch another movie, dude?” The younger of the two asks lightly.

“Gosh. What time is it?”

“Like. A little after seven.”

“Mmm. Maybe we can watch some TV before I go to bed at nine?”

Max grins, “alright, grandpa. We’ll make sure you get you in bed by your bedtime.”

David smiles, watching as Max gets up and switches the TV over to the DVR. David had his TV set up to where you had to change the input manually, which was a major inconvenience. Max always thought he needs to fix it for him, but hasn’t gotten around to it. He sits back down on the couch, handing David the cable remote.

“You can choose. Nothing scary though,” he states, smiling lightly up at Max, as he was still lying on his back.

“Damn. Was really planning on watching an extremely graphic horror film, which aren’t even really allowed to be played on cable,” he grins, switching through the channels. As he searches, the rain started to come down harder at the window, the distant thunder becoming louder.

He searches for awhile before stopping on one, “check it. They're playing _The Joy of Painting_. I know how much you love Bob Rosssss,” Max grins, looking to David, who had already been peering up at him.

It's silent between the two for a few very long moments, taking in each other's presence. Was David admiring him? Max’s face heats up.

The younger of the two points to try TV, “see? Looks like he's painting a winter scene tonight.”

David smiles up at him before looking over at the TV, while still laying down on his back.

They watch for several moments as the man paints effortlessly, like he's done this exact painting 10 times before coming on set. He was saying some very thought provoking and self validating things. Almost like he knew the kinds of people who watched these films needed to be comforted from their hectic lives.

Maybe David watched this program to calm himself down and be validated. Lonely consultations with the TV screen in an attempt to fix very old wounds.

Or maybe he just liked Bob Ross’ nature paintings. Who fucking knows. He _was_ freakishly involved with the wilderness. Hell, his _last name_ was even Wilde.

As they watch (almost in a trance, really), David moves his body, and lays his head on Max’s thigh as he sat cross-legged. The younger felt his heart start to pick up just a tad. What should he do? Play with his hair like David always does to him? Should he place a hand on his shoulder? Luckily, David was laying on his side facing the TV so he didn't see the boys panicked expression. Max compromises and places a hand on his head, digging his fingers in the man’s ginger hair. God it was soft. _He_ was soft. Max wondered if his whole body was soft.

They watch Bob Ross paint for quite some time - who knew watching a man create artwork would be so fucking therapeutic. The storm was getting pretty loud outside, lighting the darkened room up with loud crashes, which somehow aided in their relaxation. Eventually, David turns to lay on his back, looking up at Max, “hey, Max?”

“What’s up?” he responds, voice low as he looks back down to David.

“I’m really happy you’re here.”

Max’s heart skips, unable to say anything for several moments. He eventually says, “I’m glad I’m here too.”

David smiles, eyes falling closed for a moment. He looked really tired - probably unable to sleep the past few days due to the sheer excitement of going back to teaching. Max admires him for a moment, before looking back up at the screen, but he wasn’t focusing on the painting or the man on screen or the things he was saying. No no, Max was thinking about the weight of David’s head on his thigh. He was thinking about the way he looked up at him, the way his eyelashes fluttered when he whispered out _‘I’m really happy you’re here.’_

Max took a deep breath. God he was fucked. This _was_ his camp counselor since he was only eight years old. Beyond fucked. What was wrong with him?

He looked down to him once again after several moments. David had turned to lay on his other side, facing away from the TV. His head still lay on Max’s thigh, body curled up and comfortable. His eyes were closed, probably finally getting some sleep before the early wake-up call tomorrow morning. Max looks down at him, sitting back himself. David’s breathing was starting to get deep - he was asleep, despite the thunder and rain outside. Max’s heart skips again, which caused him to curse himself out again in his head. Although, his rude thoughts were drowned out by his active imagination. What if it were like this every night? Curled up, comfortable, soft, tender, affectionate - something Max never knew he thought he could handle. Maybe he _couldn’t_ handle it. Maybe he only _thought_ he could. _Thought_ he wanted to be comfortable, soft, tender, and affectionate. But - how could he _not_ want to be, when David whispers things like ‘ _I’m really happy you’re here'_ while curled up next to him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> make sure to follow me on tumblr @hungering-heart! feel free to ask questions abt the chapter or the fic in general!


	3. Talking to Myself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max feels a little off today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Max feels really bad today, and so we see a lot of how he talks to himself in his head - he's not very nice to himself, and I want to make sure everyone stays safe! so here's some trigger warnings:  
> self body shaming, mentions of parents not caring, self-invalidation, thoughts about starving one's self.  
> It's really not too graphic or anything, but I just figured I'd give a trigger warning just to be safe. i want you all to stay safe and comfy!!  
> There's a summary at the end of the chapter, just in case you'd like to skip over this but still want to know what happens!  
> (Next chapter is going to be a LOT lighter - don't fret, friends!)  
> 

An hour or so after David had fallen asleep, he promptly awoke again, lifting his head off the boy’s leg and peering up at him sleepily. Max had fallen asleep too, but David’s prompt awakening had made the teen stir to actually lay down and get more comfortable. The ginger watches him for several moments, debating if he wanted to lay next to Max or not - he decides against it, getting up to turn the TV off. David’s movement woke Max up briefly, peering up at him through tired eyes - they make eye contact, the ginger smiling gently before departing to his own room once the TV was off. Max felt rather alone after the door closed, desperate for David’s touch again - he curls up and pulls a quilt over himself to try to sleep this unsettling feeling off.

He still felt it once he woke up hours later. He was curled up on the couch, and when he opened his eyes, he immediately closed them again. He switched to lay on his other side, facing the back of the couch, where another quilt was draped over.

He felt fucking awful again today.

He wanted David, which made him only feel worse. He wanted him like a goddamn toddler wants their mom after she’s been away for a mere hour. Or like the younger campers who always feel homesick the first few weeks.

Fucking pathetic. Absolutely pitiful. How did he let himself get so dependent on another human being? Something Max never thought he was capable of after the severe damage his parents did to his younger self.

Max learned how to deal with homesickness though - distractions and contact with parents if severe enough. Not that he was homesick - or has even _been_ homesick before.

He sits up, throwing the quilt to the side. He shivered at his skin being exposed to the air. He stood up, but didn’t go anywhere for several moments, thinking.

_Go job hunting, asshole. Pay David rent like a normal roommate, because that’s all you are to him. Nothing else. Don’t take his optimistic personality for granted. He treats everyone like he treats you. You are nothing special to him._

He walks over to the kitchen and starts up the coffee machine. As it heats up, he finds his phone and checks it. It was only 10:15, which was fairly early compared to what he’s been waking up at - probably all those naps have been fucking up his schedule.

There were a few texts from David, as always. Max hesitates before opening them.

 

_Camp Man:_

_Good Morning, Max! Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday! There’s food in the fridge I believe, as well as stuff in the pantry if you’re hungry._

 

_Please don’t forget to eat today! You’re still growing (maybe not vertically, but you need lots of energy for your brain to develop properly!) Hugs!!_

 

_Hey, I just wanted to tell you… I had a really fun time last night. The movie you chose was very very good. I’d love to have movie night again some time._

 

_Also. Sorry I woke you up last night as I went back into my room. It was late, and I wasn’t up for a sleepover, seeing as rest is so rare for me. Maybe tonight or tomorrow if you’re up for it!_

 

Max smiled, reading his texts over and over and over again. He liked how David texted him every day. He also liked how David knew just what to say to make him feel all gushy and flustered. That’s not an easy feat at all.

He starts to brew a cup of coffee before looking around the kitchen for some food. He eventually finds a small container of blueberries and forced himself to pick at those, since David wanted him to eat so bad. He got his phone out again and started to think of a response.

_Don’t reply to him. Cut him out forever. You’re going to hurt him, like you do everyone else in your life._

Max stood there a moment.

Yeah… One day, he was going to hurt David. Hurt him really bad, like he always manages to do. He shouldn’t get too attached so it doesn’t hurt so much when it happens.

Max peers up from his phone to grab his coffee from under the machine. He takes a sip. It was warm and comfortable. He runs a hand over his face - he didn’t want to respond, but he knew that if he didn’t, David would get all concerned.

_He’d just pretend to be concerned. He doesn’t care about you. He’s just making this living situation civil in the meantime while you’re here. As soon as you get a job and move out, he’s not going to even think about you. You’re an awful person and he’s only letting you stay here because he’s good at heart._

 

_Max Khatri:_

_hey dont worry about it i woundnt want to sleep on the couch with me either haha._

 

He stares at his phone for several moments after he sends it. David doesn’t respond for quite a long time.

_Just because you added ‘haha’ at the end of your text doesn’t make what you said anymore less pathetic. He doesn’t want to talk to you. Period._

A text comes through, snapping Max out of his thoughts. He reads it over.

 

_Camp Man:_

_Aaa, no no, that’s not it! My sleep is just really valued, and I try to do everything in my power to make sure I can get it. I probably won’t be able to sleep tonight though, if you’d like to have a sleepover tonight!_

 

Max bit his lip.

_He’s just saying this to ease your nerves. Saying things so the home environment won’t be any more toxic than how you make it. Just like you did with your parents, asshole._

 

_Max Khatri:_

_if you want but im chillin._

 

Right. Max took his mug and walked over to the couch, sitting down. He looked out the window though the sheer curtain - it was partly cloudy today. He lets out a sigh.

_Why do you even feel bad, asshole? You live in a great apartment with a great roommate. You don’t even work or pay rent. David doesn’t deserve to be burdened by you. He deserves someone good for him - happy and carefree and optimistic like him. You’re only going to hurt him._

He needed a distraction. He needed to get out and _do_ something today. His phone buzzed again:

 

_Camp Man:_

_I would, unless I’m sleepy again. If I get sleepy, that’s going to be my top priority. We’ll push the sleepover to maybe tomorrow then instead? I don’t know. We’ll play it by ear :-)_

 

Max stares at the phone for several moments.

 

_Max Khatri:_

_sounds good man._

 

He stands up, getting some clothes out of his bag. Jeans, t-shirt, gray hoodie, and socks - like always. He takes his clothes off, and looks down to his belly. Fuck, he forgot about that. His mood drops again, self destructive mind kicking back in again.

_Fatass. You deserve to starve. You don’t deserve all the food David’s giving you. He’s paying for your every meal and you don’t pay him back with anything. It’s not like you’re broke. You have quite a good amount of money in the bank. Stop taking advantage of him._

He gets his clothes on, brushes his hair and teeth, and gets his backpack. Where the hell was he even going to go? He leaves the apartment and makes sure to lock it behind him. He'd feel awful if David was robbed, and it was his ungrateful roommate’s fault.

He hops on his motorcycle, and just sits for several moments, feeling the cooler air hitting his skin. He closes his eyes, listening to the world around him, contemplating this feeling of homesickness. And somehow, his mind drifted off to a conversation he and David had a few summers ago:

 

_“Hey, bud!” David beams, coming into Max’s cabin. The summer after 2012, they had switched those god awful tents to cabins due to several parent complaints._

_“Fuck off, David," the teen responds, glaring up at his counselor from his seat on the bottom bunk._

_“Aw. Don’t be that way,” the ginger grins, coming in to sit next to Max. Like, right next to him. Hips touching close._

_The boy scowls, scooting away from him, “what do you want?”_

_David stays silent a moment, before pulling out an envelope from that stupid fucking vest that he physically would not be able to wear after this year. He hands it to Max, who reluctantly takes it. On one side, in cursive it read “Max”. The boy felt his heart jump a bit as he tore into it, pulling out a card with a cartoon tiger holding a very large cake with three candles on top. He opens it, peering at a very lofty paragraph in David’s cursive. He looks up at his counselor, “I can’t read cursive.”_

_The ginger laughs, “oh gee. Of course - it’s rather outdated. Would you like me to read it to you?”_

_Max hands the card to him to signal that he would, indeed, like it read to him._

_The ginger takes it back, looking over it while he crosses his abnormally long legs loosely, “Dearest Max. Fourteen already? I seriously cannot believe we’ve already spent 6 summers together, as it feels like just yesterday I got the pleasure to meet you for the first time in 2010. It makes me so happy that you come to camp every year, even if you don’t outwardly express that you enjoy it. It’s been such a pleasure to aid you in growing up through such critical times in your life, and I hope I can be here for you in your remaining summers at Camp Campbell as well - if you choose to keep coming back of course! You are such a brilliant individual, and every summer with you has been such a treat. You certainly make my job very interesting,” he grins, looking up at Max, who was letting a small smile appear on his face. He continues, “you mean the world to me, and I can’t wait for us to keep learning and growing from one another. PS. Part of my job is to not choose favorites, but I think it’s rather obvious you take that place. Just saying,” he smiles, handing Max the card, “sooo. Happy birthday, Max.”_

_The teen takes it back, looking it over a few times before setting it down and hesitantly wrapping his arms around David - the older of the two gladly takes the sudden act of affection, hugging him tight for several minutes. Max digs his face in his counselor’s chest, taking in how naturally warm he was. It wasn’t uncomfortable though. It was a relaxing warmth. Why did David care so much about him? Or was he just pretending to care since he was now officially a "troubled teen" as every adult likes to call him?_

_He was simply unlovable, making him question David's constant affection._

_It didn't feel right._

_Not even his parents loved him, so why should David?_

_After several moments, David notices that Max’s breathing was starting to get labored and instantly knew why. He holds him tighter, bringing a hand up into Max’s hair gently as to not disturb the boy too much. Max began huffing more, tears making David’s chest wet._

_They stay like this for several minutes, Max openly letting himself cry in front of someone for once. It always seemed like it was David who was unlucky enough to be there when he cried. The teen finally gets out after several minutes, “they didn’t even send me a fucking card or anything.”_

_“Oh… Max… I'm so sorry."_

_“I don’t even know why I expect anything from them anymore,” he adds after a few moments, breaking the hug to wipe his face on the sleeve of his dual-toned blue hoodie that was getting much too small for him. David had been trained to understand that as a sign of mistreatment at home. Of course, he didn’t need unfitting clothes to understand that Max was living in a bad home. The boy continues, “I think it’s just cuz they’re my parents, ya know?”_

_David wraps an arm around him, loose yet comfortable and caring, as he listens to Max talk. The teen continues, “like, parents aren’t supposed to just… Ship their kid off and forget they exist for two months. That’s not what’s supposed to happen. And I think - sometimes,” he closes his eyes, restraining himself of another sob, “I think it’s my fault for not being a good enough kid. If I was better, then maybe they’d love me.”_

_“Woah - hey, Max. Listen to me,” David says gently, leaning forward to look at the now-fourteen-year-old, “it’s not your fault - it will never be your fault. You hear me? It’s not your fault that they don’t openly show their affection to you. You could be… the next Albert Einstein or Usain Bolt or… something. That doesn’t matter, Max. That’s their nature and their own issue. And I’m so sorry you have to hurt because of them,” he says gently, bringing his free hand up and brushing Max’s locks out of his face. He hated seeing Max so upset like this - it was rare, but it was severe enough that he knew Max felt these emotions often. David continues, “you are you. You should never change yourself to win a parent’s affection that - unfortunately - doesn’t exist. And, honestly? Gosh. They’re really missing out. Because I happen to think you’re particularly amazing,” he smiles gently._

_The boy just furrows his brows slightly, keeping his eyes cast down. David recognizes what was going through the boy's head so he adds,"and I absolutely promise you, I am not just saying that because 'that's my job'," he smiles rather playfully, brushing away at the curls that continued to bounce back. M_ _ax looks up at David, tears blurring his vision just a tad. The ginger holds him tighter, “I really mean that.”_

_The teen stares up at him for a few moments, before wiping his eyes off on his sleeve again, “thanks, David. Sorry.”_

_“Sorry? For what?”_

_He kind of laughs pitifully, shrugging, “I dunno’. Being all fucked up. You could be, like, doing something actually important right now. Like making sure the younger campers aren’t choking on their lunches or whatever,” he smiles gently._

_“Wha - goodness. Don’t you worry about that. That’s why I have a co-counselor,” he says gently before continuing, “besides. Nothing is more important to me than making sure my campers are happy and are enjoying themselves. I care very deeply about you all.”_

_Max looks down to his lap. He didn’t like being categorized with the other kids. Or kids in general. David adds, “and… Gosh. You heard me read that P.S. in my card out loud. I mean that. You’re particularly special to me, Max.”_

_The teen smiles gently, surprised at how David managed to read his mind like that, even though it's been happening more and more frequently, “thanks, David.”_

_It’s silent for a few minutes before David says, “are you going to come eat lunch then? I made sure it was something good for lunch today. Just for you.”_

_Max looks up at him, “you didn’t…”_

_He nods, “chicken nuggets and mac n’ cheese.”_

_“Oh FUCK yeah,” he grins, hopping up, “that’s the one good meal the QM knows how to fucking cook.”_

_David stands up, holding the cabin door open for Max, who comes bounding out, heading straight towards the dining hall without a second thought. The ginger adds, “hey, Max! Real quick, just one more thing.”_

_The boy stops and looks over his shoulder to his counselor that was a few feet away now, “what’s up?”_

_“After lunch, come on up to the counselor’s cabin. Gwen and I pitched in to get you a little gift,” he says, before adding more quiet, “and cake.”_

_Max’s eyes light up, “fuckin’ hell, dude. You went all out.”_

_David shrugs, coming up to walk side by side to the mess hall, “not really. I like treating you to things.”_

_Max stays silent after he adds that, the two heading up to the dining hall in silence for several moments. Max finally decides to ask,"hey, David?”_

_“Yes, Max?”_

_“Thanks. For everything. And for making camp feel more like a fucking home than my own house.”_

_David beams, ruffling up his messy curls, “we all need somebody or someplace to make us feel at home. And I’m so glad I can help you feel comfortable some place.”_

_Max’s face heats up just a tad as they get up to the dining hall, “you tell anyone about this, and I will absolutely fucking ignore you for the rest of camp. Got that?”_

_David laughs, opening the door for him. He adds in a hushed tone, “as long as you don’t tell anyone that you’re my favorite camper.”_

_“Oh. Everyone already knows that,” he grins, going inside, “but sure. You’ve got yourself a deal, camp man.”_

 

His phone buzzes again, bringing him out of his daydream. He hesitates before checking what might be on his screen:

 

_Camp Man:_

_Hey - what do you have going on today? Can I ask you a favor?_

 

_Max Khatri:_

_sure. whats up._

 

_Camp Man:_

_I accidentally left my lunch at the house. Could you possibly bring it by the school in the next hour or so? I really don't feel like opening up my school cafeteria salad again to a frog._

 

_Max Khatri:_

_yeah for sure. ill bring it by right now._

 

Max hops off his bike - okay. Okay this is good! Staying busy is really important. He comes back up the stairs and into the apartment. He finds David's lunch bag in the fridge - he didn't like to use paper bags. He liked to reuse things, like a good person.

_Disposable. No one loves trash._

He takes the bag, and heads back out. He shoves it in his backpack and hops back on his bike. He whips his phone and headphones out, stringing his headphones up through his hoodie so they don’t catch the wind. He opens up Spotify and searches for a bit before deciding on just shuffling songs by Watsky again.

 

 _One day you opened up your eyes inside of you_  
_Inside a world inside a universe you didn’t get to choose_  
_You didn’t get to pick the rules or pick the past or set the pace_  
_Or cast the cast and crew_  
_You didn’t get to pick your starting place_  
_And though it was a race you didn’t understand_  
_You simply lined up on the blocks and when the pistol popped you ran_  
_And when you tripped and dropped, you picked yourself up off the ground_  
_And picked your scabs and knew you had to pick a plan to end what you began_  
_As you got older there were days of cold surrender_  
_Days of shrugged whatevers folded in with days of shocking splendor_  
_But as time advanced, the lovely days were covered up from view_  
_By an advancing melancholy haze that hovered near the dew_  
_Yet there were moments_  
_There were these pure arresting moments when you stepped outside your head_  
_Outside your pain, outside control, outside the bullshit, out of body, out of rage_  
_Outside the need to get it, get it? You will never get it_  
_That’s okay._

 _Have you felt a little off today_  
_Had a lot to say_  
_But wound up talking to yourself?_  
_I've been hunting for a kindly ear_  
_But couldn’t find one near_  
_And wound up talking to myself._

 

He rolls up in front of the middle school, finding a spot up front labeled “visitor's parking.” He takes a breath, taking his headphones out as he comes up the stairs. He enters the office, an older woman with dark eyes and hair sitting behind the desk. She looks up from her screen, “hi, darling. What can I help you with?”

“Hey - yeah I uh -” he clears his throat, voice kind of groggy from not talking all morning, “I got something for my roommate. Uh - David Wilde?”

She lights up, “oh! You’re Max then, huh?”

“Lord - uh, yeah. Does he - did he tell you I was coming up or…?”

She smiles, “he's always talking about you. All good things though! Here, let me get you a pass and you can go find him,” she says, returning her attention back to the screen. As she does that, Max looks around the office. Quaint - nicely decorated. A _lot_ different from his old middle school.

The woman behind the counter stands up and hands him a plastic ID card looking kind of thing, “I have a feeling you’re going to be here quite frequently,” she smiles, winking at him, “his last boyfriend was _always_ coming and going.”

Max’s face heats up as he takes the card from her, “oh - no, David and I aren’t dating.”

She raises an eyebrow, “no? Well. Soon enough, dear. He seems awfully fond of you,” she smiles, sitting back down. Before he could protest, she speaks up again, “his room is through these doors here,” she points, “go across the courtyard, and you'll find it. Room 121. He’s got his door all decorated and such. You can't miss it,” she smiles.

“Right. Thanks,” he states, exiting the lobby. He looks around - there weren't any kids in the hallways besides the few getting a drink of water or using the restroom. He exits that hallway to a large courtyard. There wasn't really anyone out here either.

Wait so… She thought David and him were dating? Goddamnit.

And she also mentioned ‘his last boyfriend’? So… He _has_ dated men before - which means he is gay or bi or something of those sorts. David never really shared much about his dating or personal life, so the teen never quite knew for sure. It was nice to get it affirmed though, even if Max had a bunch about it.

As he trekked across the courtyard, he couldn't help but wonder - was David a top or a bottom? If it's any consolation, the man  _did_ quilt in his free time.

Max finds his room with ease, peering in the window on the door - he sat at his desk in an empty classroom. He was typing something up it looked like.

_He’s busy. Leave it by his door and leave. He doesn't want to see you._

Max furrows his brow, taking a moment before he comes into the room. David looks up, face lighting up, “Max! Hi!” he gets up from his desk and comes over to him.

“Hey. Brought your food.”

“Awesome! Thank you SOOOO much!” He beams, wrapping his arms around the boy tightly. Max reluctantly accepts it, “yeah. Not a problem. Wasn't doing anything important today. So,” he says, gently, wrapping his arms around David - goddamnit. Somehow he instantly felt better while wrapped in David’s arms like this. He didn’t want David to _ever_ let him go. Never ever…

David lets go, Max feeling empty again.

“Do you not have a class this period?” Max states lightly as he sets his backpack down, fishing out the ginger’s lunch bag. He hands it to him.

“Nope. I have a conference period and then lunch until 11:53,” he smiles, taking the lunch bag from Max, “wanna’ stay? I’m not doing anything right now,” he smiles.

Max stays quiet as he zips his bag up.

_Don’t stay here. He’s just inviting you because you don’t have anywhere else to go. Don’t take his pity. Don’t make him sit here and babysit you._

“Uh - I don’t know. You got work n’ shit.”

“Nonsense! Come on,” he states, pulling up one of those combined desk/chairs to his desk, “sorry I don’t have another chair. You’re gonna have to sit in one of these desks like my students do,” he grins, sitting down at his own desk, “we’ll have to get another chair in here. Sorry if it’s a bit small.” Max hesitates, before sitting down in the desk. He fucking fit just fine. Fuck this.

“It’s fine. I don’t think I’ll be dropping by very often though. You’re busy.”

“Actually - okay so,” he opens up his lunch bag, “the other social study teachers have conference sixth period with me instead of what we’re in right now - fourth,” he takes out a Tupperware container of Chinese from last night, “I have this extra conference since I’m a division leader. Little do they know, I already have the whole year planned out,” he grins, kind of playfully.

“Of course you do. You’re David,” Max states, slouching back in his chair.

David grins, “what’s that supposed to mean, mister?”

“It _means_ \- you’re an overachiever. You go above and beyond with every little thing that you do. You always have been. It’s obnoxious, honestly,” he cracks a smile.

David’s happy attitude falters a bit, Max picking up on this.

_Fucking idiot. Now look at what you did. All you do is offend people._

“I mean like - fuck. It’s good,” he gets out, “you think of everything and do it all perfectly. Like - it's obnoxious how perfect - you - are. At everything.”

_What the hell was that? Are you fucking dumb? He’s going to know you’re crushing on your old camp counselor and kick you out. Dumbass. Don’t be a goddamn creep._

“Oh - okay! Well it's okay to be annoyed by me. I know I'm... quite a lot sometimes,” he says despite smiling lightly. He opens up his Tupperware and starts to eat, “did you eat already, Max? Would you like some?” He asks gently.

“I’m good. Had some blueberries this morning. Thanks though,” he states, slumping back in his chair, looking at all the little knick knacks and things David had on his desk.

“You know,” David states, crossing his long legs as he does. His pants come up at the ankle, socks peeking out from under his shoes that were a similar color to the pants - as if he were some man in the 50s, “I used to do detention duty last year, and honestly - feels like you have lunch detention,” he grins.

Max’s face heats up - he didn't like how that idea made him feel.

_Fucking pervert. Don't fetishize the student and teacher relationship. That's absolutely disgusting. You’re fucking disgusting._

“I guess. Did have plenty of detentions while I was in school. Don't think I ever saw the lunchroom during my junior year,” he cracks a light smile.

“What kind of stuff did you do to get detention?” David asks lightly, breaking up some rice with his chop sticks.

“God - what _didn’t_ I do,” he grins, “I did all sorts of pranks n' shit. Especially on teachers and faculty. I vandalized some of their stuff too,” he grins,“one time I -”

_Stop talking. Shut UP. He’s not interested - nor will he ever be. He only asked because he’s nice._

Max’s face falls again, “yeah. I don't know. I did all sorts of bad shit.”

David smiles lightly, kind of picking up on Max’s mood change, “well, hopefully you won't pull any pranks on me, huh?”

“Yeah. I’ll try not to.”

_Leave. Right now. Cut the ties. You’re going to hurt him you’re going to hurt him you’re going to hurt him you're going to hurt him -_

“Hey, Max?”

“What's up?”

“You wanna go do something fun after school today?”

_Don’t do it. You deserve to sit inside and rot. Let him go with his real friends._

“Uh - maybe. I dunno’.”

“Well… Think about it. Because I’d love to go do something with you tonight,” he smiles, “have any ideas?”

“Not really. It’s Wednesday. Nothing fun ever happens on Wednesdays. They're arguably the most boring days in the week."

“Well… How about we change that, huh?”

Max feels his heart skip, “how so?”

The ginger shrugs, “we can go out every Wednesday. Make it fun. That sound good to you?”

How the hell could he possibly say no?

“Yeah, sure, I guess. You’re in charge of finding something to do tonight though,” Max responds, shoving his hands in his hoodie pockets.

“Can do!” he beams, “I already have something very special in mind.”

Max smiles a little nervously. He starts to pick at the cheap desk, where there was a gouge in the side, where some student had been digging at with a pencil. He watched as the flecks of cheap wood drifted down onto his jeans.

Thankfully, a student comes in. A girl with long blond hair tucked into a tight ponytail, her brown eyes hid under thick framed tortoise shell glasses.

David looks up and smiles, “hiya, Ms. Blondwood,” he says, closing up his Chinese food and shoving it to the side of his desk. He folds his hands like he were plotting something.

“Hey, Mr. Wilde. Is right now a bad time?” She asks, looking over to Max, who raises an eyebrow.

“Oh,” David looks at Max, who returns his stare. David laughs, “oh no no - this is my roommate, Max. He’s just visiting for lunch.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Max,” she smiles, putting her hand out for him to shake it. Max didn’t like the formalities, but shook her hand anyways. She had a very firm handshake for a sixth grader. She must be in debate or some shit.

“What can I help you with? Everything okay?”

“Oh - yes. I was just coming in to ask about Friday. I’m going to be absent for a dance recital and was hoping I could get caught up.”

Some sort of junior DECA maybe? Student council?

“Ahhh,” David beams, “getting ahead of the game. Very responsible!” He states, getting out a stack of papers that were rubber banded together, “it’s just going to be a lecture and notes day, followed by an activity. The PowerPoint to the notes will be on Schoology after school that Friday," he smiles, handing a paper over to her. She gladly accepts it. He gets out another stack of papers, handing one to her, "aaand this one is the activity. There’s a little reading excerpt, and then it has you answer some fun little questions about your family tree. It’s pretty simple - there’s the directions on the top here,” he smiles, pointing on the paper to a short paragraph at the top.

“Okay! That sounds easy. I’d love if you could email me or my mother that PowerPoint early so I can get it done earlier,” she says, holding the two papers up close to her chest, like they were her most prized possessions.

“Of course. I will do that as soon as possible,” he smiles, “anything else I can clear up for you?”

“I think I’ve got it. Thank you!”

“Not a problem, Stephanie. Feel free to shoot me an email with any questions you might have,” he smiles.

“Of course. Thank you, Mr. Wilde! I’ll see you tomorrow morning!” She calls out, starting to leave the room, “and good to meet you, Mr. Max!” She grins, closing the classroom door.

It’s quiet for a moment as David puts those stacks of paper back into his desk.

“Are… _All_ your students like that?”

"What do you mean?" he asks, getting on the computer - presumably to email her that PowerPoint.

"Like... all scholarly n' on top of their game n' shit."

“Oh! Heavens no. Stephanie is one of my best students. Very responsible. I can’t wait to meet her parents on Parent-Teacher night,” he states, before pausing. He looks around for a second, “you know what? That’s on a Wednesday. Darn… We’ll just have to plan around it,” he smiles, getting his lunch back out after he sends the email.

Max watches him as he does so, “yeah. Whatever works I guess.”

David starts to eat again, “you know… I kind of like the sound of Mr. Max. Very official. Sounds like you’re a whole adult,” he grins.

“Wha - I _am_ an adult.”

“Well obviously. But - you know what I mean.”

Max sits up, folding his arms rather playfully, “I don’t think that I do know, David.”

“Well - I mean. I’ve known you since you were a child. And you’re still pretty young, really. You’re still finding your way in the world and that’s okay. Does that make sense?”

_Right. You’re a child. You’re young. Too young and directionless for a 27 year old teacher to fall in love with. He’s got his whole life together. He lives in his own apartment and has a salary job. He’s a fully functioning adult whom people look up to. He’s just babysitting you. You’re young and immature and he’s just doing this because your parents don’t love you enough to put up with your first few years of early adulthood. You’re nothing to him and you never will be. No one wants to fall in love with a child. Don’t play into your fucked up fantasies and think for a moment that an adult like him could ever love you. He doesn’t love you and never will. Nor does he care for you. Not everyone is -_

“Max?”

“Huh?”

“You zoned out a bit. You okay?”

“Oh - uh. Yeah. Sorry. Just thinking.”

“Oh. Okay,” it’s quiet for several moments before he speaks up again, “sorry, Max. I didn’t mean to offend you. You’re in no means childish. I really am trying to think befo - ”

“Hey, don’t worry about it, David. I’m not even upset or whatever,” he forces a smile to try and ease up David.

He smiles, “are you sure?”

“Totally. I’m cool.”

David's quiet a moment before he states, “okay. Hey, um - what do you want to do for dinner?”

_You shouldn’t be eating with how fast you’re getting that belly._

“I’m cool with anything.”

David thinks for a moment, taking out a clipboard from his desk, and putting on a piece of notebook paper. He starts to scribble down some notes, “anything?”

“I mean… Sure…?”

David nods, his face lighting back up again, as if he were never upset a day in his life, “okay. I’ll come by after school and come pick you up, huh? And then we can go out.”

The bell rings, and soon after students start to file in. David didn’t seem put-off, so Max didn’t get up. All the students were kind of eyeing him.

“Where are we going?” The younger of the two asks, peering over David’s shoulder. He couldn’t read David's cursive very well.

“You’ll see,” he hums, moving the clipboard away from Max’s eye line, still scribbling down notes.

“Well - I wanna see now, dude. I’m not a big fan of surprises.”

“Weeeell. It’s going to be a good surprise. And I know you very very well. And you’re going to like it. I promise you that.”

Max sits back in his chair, hand at one of the straps on his backpack, “man. I guess. It better not be a bonfire or something,” he states, grinning.

David rolls his eyes - the bell rings indicating that class was starting. He gets up and takes his clipboard with him, “trust me on this one. You will be having the best night of your whole life!” he beams, going up to the front of the classroom.

Max huffs, taking his bag and getting up.

“Hello, class!” David beams.

“Who is _that_?” A student asks, pointing towards Max. He was a tall, kind of square kid with strawberry blond hair.

“Oh - yeah! That’s Mr. Max.”

“I thought he was an 8th grader,” the student says, everyone else in the class laughing.

Max let's a light smile show on his face as he slings his bag over his shoulders.

David smiles, face getting a tad red, “no no. He's my roommate. He came by for lunch.”

“Alright, alright, I’m going,” Max grins, heading for the classroom door.

“Oh - Okay! You know you’re always welcome to come stay in my classroom if you’d like. I’d _love_ the extra hands around here,” David beams, looking over to Max who just rolls his eyes.

“See ya’ later,” Max responds, opening the door and starting to leave.

“Byeee!” David calls - merely seconds before Max closes the door behind him, David comes up, “wait, wait!”

“Oh my god,” he grins, turning around to face the overly excited redhead, “ _what?”_

“Get changed into something warmer for tonight. It’s supposed to be a bit cooler.”

Max raises a brow, “so… It’s an outside event?”

“Mmmm. Something like that,” he smiles, “okay okay - bye, Mr. Max! See you toniiight!” He hums, hugging onto his clipboard tightly, “don’t get into any trouble on your way out of the school!”

Max shakes his head, grinning ear to ear, “good _bye_ , Mr. Wilde,” he responds rather sarcastically as he turns back around, exiting towards the courtyard.

David stands there for several moments, watching the teen take off. He shakes it off, and heads back into the classroom where he begins his lecture for the day.

 

_Mr. Wilde? What are you? An idiot? He’s gonna see right through you. Fucked up. Disgusting. You shouldn’t even be allowed to set foot in a school._

Max closed his eyes, trying to shake his thoughts off. He enters back through the office, the woman smiling at him, “hiya, dear. You heading out?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“Of course. See you soon!”

He forces a light smile, putting his hand up in an attempt to a wave as he exits. He hops back on his bike. Right. Home.

Maybe… Maybe he should go get some new clothes. Maybe a new outfit for tonight. Maybe get that leather jacket he was eyeing…

He takes a deep breath, before hitting the road again, the opposite direction of their apartment. The wind whips his hair, cuts through his hoodie, and manages to lift his spirits ever so lightly. He pulled into the parking lot of the Walmart, illegally parking his bike between two smaller cars that had about 10 feet between each other. It’s fine.

He comes into the store, heading all the way to the back where they held their menswear. He barely fit into men’s size small - maybe they’ll carry extra small, if he’s lucky.

_With all this weight you’ve been packing on, you’re going to be an extra large._

He looks around for a bit - what’s he even looking for? ‘What can he even afford?’ Is probably the better question. He takes out his phone and opens up his bank account on an app - his checking had about $400 left in it. Damn… He needed a fucking job.

He looked around at what they had in store - they didn’t have much in his size that he might actually wear. He found a few things, like nice jeans and some plain t-shirts. But that wasn’t exactly date-but-not-really-a-date material. He briefly contemplated going over to the adolescent’s section, before shoving that idea out of his head completely.

He needed something that really showed he wasn’t some fucking child anymore.

He peered across the walkway to the leather jacket he had looked at earlier in the week on his grocery trip. The teen comes up to it, looking it over. He gandered at the price tag, thinking it over in his head. It wouldn’t hurt to just… try it on. Right?

He finds his size (thank the fucking lord) and immediately heads back to the dressing rooms. Once inside, he strips himself of his oversized hoodie and jeans and then pulls on the clothes that actually fit his small frame.

He turns around several times, looking himself over in this new outfit.

Yeah... This might actually fucking work!

Maybe he won’t be confused for a 14 year old anymore.

Maybe he’ll be seen as the goddamn adult he is.

Maybe. Just maybe… he’ll get a 27-year-old man to fall in love with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the summary:  
> Max wakes up and he feels really really bad - homesick, really. But not for home - for his roommate David Wilde. He remembers a conversation he and David had on his 14th birthday at camp, about how his parents didn't even send him a card wishing him a happy birthday. David, of course, made sure Max had a few good things this birthday, including a very lengthy birthday card, cake, the one good meal QM knows how to make for lunch, and an unnamed gift. (It was a new red hoodie, as his other dual-toned blue one was getting particularly small - a sign of neglect at home.)  
> Coincidentally, David forgets his lunch at the apartment, and has Max come by the school to drop it off. The woman in the office jokes about how Max and David are obviously dating - she says his last boyfriend was always up at the school, and the teen has to insist that they're not dating.  
> Max comes into David's classroom, and sits with him while he eats lunch. A student named Stephanie Blondwood comes in and asks for make up work, and calls him "Mr. Max." David says he quite likes the name, as it made Max seem very grown-up. They chat a bit after she leaves, and the two decide to go do something tonight after work, it being a surprise to Max. Once the next class starts, Max leaves to go treat himself to a new outfit for tonight's date-but-not-really-a-date with David. He decides to take the plunge and gets that leather jacket he was eying earlier this week in an attempt to make himself appear more grown up.  
> Oh yeah. Max called him "Mr. Wilde" like all his students do.


	4. Boomerang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David treats Max to all sorts of things on their date-but-not-really-a-date, Max letting loose and letting himself live through a childhood he never had - even if he does feel a little silly about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW is this chapter LOOONG. It took me absolute ages to finish, and I'm so glad it's finally over LOL. As much fun as it was to write... I'm happy to move onto chapter 5.  
> Also.  
> This chapter gets a little NSFW. Just so you know.

Max came home as soon as he could, tossing his new clothes in the washing machine, as he still had some time before David would come home. Honestly? He felt nervous. Why the fuck did he even feel nervous? Not like this was a DATE or anything.

Fuck.

Was this a date?

He didn’t even know what they were going to go do!

In the meantime, he decided to try and keep himself busy so he wouldn’t get too far into his head again. He put the TV on some dumb competitive cooking show, doing some cleaning and stuff around the apartment while his new clothes washed. He filled up Smokey’s food and water, vacuumed the floor, and put all the clean dishes away - all while the cat sat comfortably and watched from the armrest of the couch.

There was still some time left on the dryer - what else could he do? He knew if he sat himself down, he’s get lost in his thoughts again and not be able to get himself back up until David came home. He decided to go into David’s room and see if there was anything to do in there. Well… The paint on the walls could be touched up. There were little knicks in the paint, showing wear and tear. Max dug around for a bit in the closets and cabinets, finding the green paint under the kitchen sink. He came back in and started to touch up the walls, careful not to get paint on any of David’s things. While he did so, he started to look around the room - to the pictures on the wall and the knick-knacks he had around his room.

On his dresser, there was a small weird looking device - it was a metal ball, with several prongs, all which had pictures attached to the end. He had one similar on his desk at work. There was an image of Max, sticking his tongue out playfully to the camera - he looked genuinely happy. Max took ahold of it and looked at it - he must have been maybe 12 in this image. He had it real bad for David that year, and the two following that. After that, it subsided until this year. Fuck a redhead named David.

There were a few of Gwen too: there was one of her sitting on the couch in David’s apartment, holding Smokey - one of her wearing a lifeguard swimsuit and aviators at Camp Campbell, looking pissed as always - and lastly, one of her and David. They looked younger in that image - David was still wearing that stupid fucking vest, and his face looked softer around the edges, while Gwen didn’t look so goddamn tired. Plus, it’s been a few years since she’s worked at Camp Campbell anyways. They hired some new bitch to take her place - Charly was her name. Blond, curly hair and bright cyan eyes. She was weird - really bouncy and bubbly and her head was in the clouds constantly. She was really hands on with David, which might have led to her not being hired again this summer.

On the picture holder, there were a few more images - there was one of Smokey as a kitten, one of a very young David and another, older redhead woman. Must have been his mother, as she looked very similar to him. There was another picture behind all of these: another one of Max. He looked young here - maybe 9 or 10. He was sitting in the mess hall, looking out the window with his chin resting on the palm of his hand. He looked upset. Too upset for a 9 to 10 year old.

Max stared at it for quite some time, before going back to touching up the wall. Once he was done, he grabbed his clothes from the dryer, changing into them right away - the garments were still nice and warm on his body - like someone had their arms draped around him comfortably. He smiled at the thought.  
He went into the bathroom to check himself out - white t-shirt, black leather jacket, and semi high waisted jeans. He’s never owned a pair like this before - they fit him really well, he thought, turning around in the mirror. He smiled. Yeah.

He pulls on his Air Force Ones, and then goes to check himself out in the full length mirror on the back of David’s bedroom door. He looks himself over.

Actually - maybe… Maybe he should ditch this. Change into his hoodie and loose jeans. He furrows his brow. He didn’t like his chest and tummy being so exposed, only covered by a thin little t-shirt.

_This was a bad idea. You’re ugly, and you look like you’re trying too hard. You don’t look good in anything you wear. You will never impress him._

As he was about to take his jacket off, he heard David come through the front door, “hiiii, Maaaaax!” he sings.

Max looks himself over again.

_You can’t let him see you like this. You’re an idiot. You look like a goddamn fool._

David peeks his head in the door to his bedroom, and sees Max on the other side. His face lights up, “hi!”

“Uh - hey,” the younger of the two responds, awkwardly putting his hands in his jackets’ pockets.

David’s face softens, looking at Max’s outfit as he comes into the room, setting his things down, “you - look really good, Max.”

“Thanks,” he states - his face was heating up, “is it - too much? I don’t know where we’re even going. Don’t know how to dress. Maybe I should just change into my hoodie.”

The redhead smiles, taking his messenger bag off, setting it down on the bed, “no no! You look perfect. You know what? Actually - here, one second. I got an idea!”

Max’s heart fluttered, hearing him say this: _You look perfect._ God. He watches as David rustles through his closet, eventually pulling out a kind of ashy blue hoodie, “here. Try putting it under your jacket. We don’t want you getting cold tonight,” he smiles, handing it to him.

“I have my own hoodie, you know,” Max comments, despite taking it from him.

“Sure. But your hoodies kinda big. This ones always been far too small for me, so I think it would be a nice fit for you. It would look really nice under your leather jacket, ya know?”

Max takes his jacket off, David offering to take it for him while he puts the hoodie on. The ginger holds the coat close to him, watching closely as Max pulls the hoodie on over his t-shirt. He looks himself over in the mirror - it was a good fit. A little too slim for his tastes, but it looked good with his jeans. David comes around and helps him put his leather jacket on over it. His hands stay resting on Max’s shoulders, “what do ya think?”

Max lets a light smile show, “yeah. I like it a lot. Thanks.”

The older of the two smiles, “good! Because I think you look particularly handsome,” he states, squeezing lightly at the boy’s shoulders. Comfortable. Warm.

Max lets out a long breath and a “thanks” followed shortly by, “I’m - gonna go try to fix my hair,” as he leaves the room in a hurry, going into the bathroom.

_Idiot. Can’t even take basic compliments and touch like a normal human being._

Max takes his comb out and starts to fix his curls a bit - he needed another haircut. It’s quiet for several moments before David calls from across the hall, “oh hey, Max - did you touch up the walls in here?”

“Shit, yeah I did. Here,” he calls back, putting his comb down and exiting, heaving back into the bedroom, “let me put that paint can away. And the brush. Don’t want that to dry out.”

He and David make eye contact.

Max looks down, and sees the ginger was shirtless - probably changing.

“Thanks for touching up,” he smiles lightly, “although… That’s not the right shade.”

It takes Max several moments to process what David was telling him - he tried to not keep his eyes too heavily on the older man’s chest but - god damn. Much easier said than done.

“What - do you mean?”

“Uh - here,” David smiles, walking over to the wall, pointing to the spots he had touched up, “the spots are lighter. This shade is the one I have in the living room.”

David’s skin looked so smooth. He had freckles littered around like fucking sprinkles - this was far from the first time Max had seen him shirtless, but the knots in his stomach must have felt otherwise, “oh. Well shit. And here I thought I was doing you a favor.”

“Oh - no no! You did. Now I’ll _have_ to fix it. Truth is, I haven’t fixed it, as I no longer have the right color. It’s going to be near impossible trying to get it matched,” he explains, going back over to the closet where he was looking through his color coded clothes.

Max kept his eyes on the way David’s shoulder blades pinched as he moved, how all the muscles in his back pulsed - the crease in his back where his spine lay, going down and into his slacks. Thank god his back was turned, so he couldn’t see the younger man admiring him so intently.

“Why don’t you just paint this wall this lighter color then?” Max finds himself saying as he sits down on his bed, although he was running on autopilot. He was elsewhere: a fantasy world of his own, coming up behind David, running his hands up the man’s chest, fingertips grazing every freckle that splattered his skin, feeling just how fucking soft he really was. The slightly raised baby pink rose buds on his chest were even softer than he could imagine.

“That’s - kind of a brilliant idea! We’ll do that this weekend, huh?”

Max imagined bringing his hands to the man’s waist, pulling him close, leaving gentle kisses on his warm skin - he imagined David’s little whimpers as he teased him with such soft affection. Small pleas in desperate need of more.

“Yeah. That sounds good. Saturday?” Max prologues the conversation.

He imagines digging his fingertips into David’s skin, the man letting out a whine that sends waves down his spine. He imagines feeling past his softness, feeling the bare muscle underneath. He bites down on the nape of his neck, David letting out another needy plead. _Max,_ he whimpers out, _please._

“Hmmm. Well on Saturday I’m planning on going with a few work friends down to the park and jogging a bit. You can come, if you’d like?” He asks, holding out another button up shirt, looking it over.

Max thinks about leaving precious little hickies on his untouched skin. Flecks of purple to show that he was _Max’s_ and no one else's. He imagines David letting out a rather breathy moan, before turning around, looking at Max with his dark green gorgeous eyes - wide and needy, _I need you, Maxwell._

“I’m not really one to jog. You doing that all day?”

He imagines they stare at each other for several moments, arms wrapped around one another - comfortable. David kisses him hard, his lips unbelievably soft - Max falls into him. They pick up their pace, David stripping Max of his leather jacket and hoodie, leaving his t-shirt on. He thought of himself wrapping his arms loosely around his neck as the older grabs his ass, lifting him up and pinning him against the wall, Max wrapping his legs around his waist. They kiss for several moments, open mouth with soft pink tongues intertwining. David eventually says, his tone become more serious, _you’re all I’ve ever wanted._

“Well… No. But I might be pretty beat. It kind of depends on if I get any sleep,” he states, putting that button up back into the closet, continuing to look.

Now it’s David’s turn to nip at Max’s neck, hands sliding up his shirt, feeling his tender, touch-starved skin. The boy bites his lip and lets out a very whiny _fuck._  He imaged David whispering into his ear, _watch your language, young man._

Max lets out a long, whiny hum.

David turns around and looks at Max, “are… you… Okay?”

The younger man darts his attention up to his eyes, “yeah. Why?”

David stays silent for several moments. Why was his face getting red? Had he said something out loud? Fuck.

“No reason. Just… Wondering. Hey, how about this shirt -” he starts, holding up a tan button up, “with this sweater on top?” he asks, holding up a dark green sweater.

Max smiles, “that looks great. You going to be warm enough?”

“Mmmm. Fair point. I need to find a jacket to match,” he hums, digging back in his closet.

Max’s eyes found their way to the curve of David’s back, “so. Uh - would Sunday work better? To paint this wall.”

He imagines David kissing him sloppily - wet and messy - lapping up the contents of his mouth as if he just couldn’t get enough of Max’s body. He thinks that David’s tongue is unbelievably soft too - wet and warm and delicate. He imagines the man carrying him over to where Max was sitting in real life, pushing him down on the bed.

Max lays back in real life, eyes up at the ceiling, but he imagines he was staring in David’s eyes. A different look in them - determined. Needy. _Hungry_. He imagines the man running his hands up his shirt, his long fingers pressing into his small chest.

“Sunday would work, yeah,” he hums, taking out a coat, comparing it to his slacks. He determines it’s not the right color and puts it back. Thank god for David’s indecisiveness when it comes to clothing.

He thinks of David pulling the tight little shirt over his head, staring at his bare chest for the first time in a very _very_ long time. He takes a long, satisfied breath as he looks Max over. He was vulnerable, and the way David looked him over  _really_ made him feel it.

The man comes down and starts to bite real hard at his chest, making Max let out more whiny profanities. _Now, Max,_ the man teases, voice a near whisper, _that’s not how proper young men talk._

_What are you going to do about it, Camp Man?_

He imagines David planting another hard, wet kiss on his lips, hands trailing down his small waist, unbuttoning his jeans.

_Guess I’ll just have to show you what happens to bad campers._

Max closes his eyes and suppresses another long, whiny breath.

David pulls his jeans down, licking his lips as he sees Max’s hardening length through the briefs he was wearing today, _oh my… What a naughty boy._

He pulls down the boy’s underwear, leaving him completely exposed - Max suppresses yet another whine.  
_Pardon my language, Max. But… Goodness,_ he smiles, almost a bit sadistically as he teases him, _I reeeeeally want to fuck you senseless, little boy._

Max lets out another hum, letting his eyes fall closed. David looks back, eyes wide.

Max’s eyes snap open, staring up at the ceiling. He sits up, David and him making eye contact. Right… That didn’t happen.

“Max. Are… You sure you’re okay?”

“Uh. Yeah. Sorry. I was - thinking about a - a recipe maybe I could cook up on Sunday. The stuff I made on Monday was damn good.”

David lights up, seemingly buying it, “oh gee!” He grins, pulling on a white t-shirt as an under layer, “gosh, sorry I ate all of that. It was just _so_ darn good.”

“It’s chill. I will... be making more, I guess,” Max smiles, hoping his face wasn’t too red from his daydream.

“Golly! Now I’m all excited! I can’t wait to see what you cook up this time,” he grins.

Max smiles back, “yeah. It’ll be good. I hope,” he states, watching David pull on the button up, “I’ll - uh - I’ll go put this paint away.”

“Okie dokie, Max! I’ll be ready in only a few.”

Max gets up and grabs the paint can and brush, taking them to the kitchen where he rinses out the brush and puts the can away.

He goes over and pets Smokey as he waits for David. Within a few minutes, the older of the two comes out - Max curses in his head at how some people look equally as hot in clothes as they do shirtless. Fuck a redhead named David Wilde.

Once they got everything, they go out to David’s car - he still had that old junker piece of shit he’s had since forever. They get in, Max turning the heat up as soon as the engine spurts to life after several attempts. It was chilly already - Max could only imagine how cold it might be tonight.

“Soooo. You going to tell me where we’re going?”

“Mmmmm,” David hums, stretching to put one arm on the back of Max’s seat as he backs up in the parking lot, “I’ll give you a little hint,” he smiles.

Max raises an eyebrow, eyeing David’s chest as he twisted in such a way. Fucking _hell_.

David sits back right and takes off down the road, “it’s going to be about an hour drive,” he says.

“The fuck? Goddamn, why the hell didn’t you tell me earlier? I woulda’ brought something to do.”

David grins, “well. Guess you’re stuck talking to me, huh?”

Max rolls his eyes, slumping in his seat and looking out the window, “okay so. It’s far away. Middle-of-fucking-nowhere-Washington. AND you said it’s cold as hell, so it might be up in the mountains,” he pauses, scratching the small scruff on his chin, “shit, dude, you taking me to a cabin in the woods? Finally got tired of my lazy ass moping around and gonna kill me?” He grins, looking up at David, whose eyes go wide.

“OH - goodness, no, Max! I - gosh, I’d rather myself get hurt before I let anything happen to you.”

“Hm. Yeah, you’d be going about this all wrong. You’d have chloroformed me and thrown my ass in your trunk. Covered me up in a tarp or something.”

David’s face was starting to tint red, “Max - no - that’s not -”

“Or maybe my unknowingness and complete trust is exciting to you?”

“Goodness - Max, no!”

The boy grins up at him, “how ya gonna do it? Shoot me? Strangle me? Axe me up to little pieces and toss me off the mountain edge?”

“We’re going to a carnival!”

Max’s eyes light up, “oh fuck, really?”

David kind of sinks in his seat, “yeah… Do - would you prefer to go do something else?”

“Wha - dude, no. That sounds cool as hell.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’ve never been to one before.”

The older of the two lights up, “oh my gosh! Oh, this is so exciting! I absolutely love love LOVE carnivals! You will too, I know it. I can’t believe I get to take you to your first one!”

Max grins. It was nice seeing David so amped up about this. He keeps going, “gosh! I’ve been to this one a few times in past years, and it’s always lots of fun. It’s really autumn themed which is one of my four favorite seasons!”

Max cracks up, “oh my god. There _are_ only four seasons, idiot.”

“Oh - gee, I know. But every season has its perks!”

“Okay then - why do you like Autumn?”

“Well that one’s easy; school, of course! I absolutely love going back to work towards the end of August after camp is over. PLUS! Halloween is in Autumn, which is a wonderful holiday.”

Max rolls his eyes - David was practically bouncing up and down in his seat because he was so excited. It was probably just an accumulation of things, but it seemed mostly sparked by his excitement over this specific carnival. This must be really special to him - Max concludes he better be on his best damn behavior, so he doesn’t fuck this up for David.

“Another plus, is all the pumpkin themed foods. And another plus is how the weather cools down. It’s perfect for camping and going out on the lake.”

The younger just listens, looking up at him. Max hated autumn, but he liked listening to David go off about anything and everything these days.

“You know, I wish we had a fireplace in the apartment,” he adds, “it’s nice to sit around the fire and work on a quilt. Maybe in my next place, I’ll make sure we have one,” he smiles.

“Are - you moving soon?”

“Oh - gee. Well my lease is up towards the end of January. I might just renew it another year. I’ve been there for so long though. Think it might be a nice change of pace to get something else.”

“Gotcha. Anything else about Autumn that you like?”

David grins, “well, gee,” he thinks for a moment, “I really like spending time with my friends or loved ones, but that’s kind of all year. But - I don’t know. Something about the colder months just makes everything seem more… Intimate I suppose? Not in - that - kind of manner. Just that people tend to get closer. It’s nice.”

“I guess so,” Max states. He hated the colder months. Winter depression is real and downright awful.

“It’s really nice to bundle up with loved ones too.”

“Like boyfriends?” Max finds himself saying - he immediately curses himself out in his head for saying that.

“Well. Yes. Boyfriends too. But close friends and family is great company too.”

Max bit is tongue so he wouldn’t find himself asking about any past boyfriends. He wanted to know what they’re like - what his type was. He wanted to know if David was a top or a goddamn bottom. He had a hunch he was a bottom - the man quilts in his goddamn free time, for hell’s sake.

If he was, they were going to have an issue if they ever got together. Max wasn’t a very good top, seeing as he was a whopping 5 foot 4 inches.

“What about you, Max? I’ve been jammering on and on - sorry about that. Why do _you_ like Autumn?” he smiles, glancing at the younger for a moment.

“I don’t.”

“Wha - really?”

“Yeah. It’s lame and everyone goes back to school or work. I mean. I guess I like the temperature. I get to wear my hoodies without overheating myself.”

David smiles sympathetically, “well that’s a plus then! What’s your favorite season then, Max?”

“Uh,” the boy pauses, looking out the window, “summer, I guess.”

David lights up, “really?”

“Yeah.”

“Might I ask _why?_ ” he grins.

Max rolls his eyes, a small smile forming at the corners of his mouth, “god. I think you _know,_ idiot.”

“Hm. I don’t think that I do know, Max,” he grins, mimicking the boy from their conversation earlier at the school.

“Oh!” He grins, furrowing his brows. He wacks David’s arm playfully, “fuck you!”

David laughs, “okay okay! Gee. Well. If you’d _like_ to share with the class, I’m all ears.”

Max looks back out the window, “eh. Maybe later,” he states, pulling his phone out of the back pocket on his jeans, “right nooooow. I kinda wanna jam. That chill?”

“Sure!” David smiles, grabbing the cable from the console, handing it to him. The aux cord was janky - the car originally didn’t support media input other than cassette and radio, but Ered got in there and fixed it all up a couple years back. It worked surprisingly well for a 16 year old’s work.

Max goes onto his Spotify, plugging his phone in. He shuffles his music, the song playing loudly over the speakers in the car.

 

_I hear a little patience what a man need_ __  
_But bottling the feelings’ll make a man bleed_ __  
_The words leave my mouth in a stampede_ __  
_Watch em galloping, breaking records for land speed_ __  
_My heart pumps and my lips tend to obey_ __  
_You're just so Bay, I hope you don't say “no way”_ __  
_Now that I came back around to OK_ __  
_And if you let me I will love you till we go grey_ __  
_So be my do-ray-me-fa-so-la-ti-do_ __  
_We'll hit El Farolito, and get a bomb burrito_ __  
_I try to kill my ego when your subject appears_ __  
_But I still think of you when I had a couple of beers_ __  
_I'll see you soon I got no use for a bucket of tears_ __  
_It seemed unlucky how we'd orbit each other for years_ __  
_We got our timing right and then I collided with you_  
_The wait is worth it in the moment we finally do_

 

The drive was actually a little over an hour, the two eventually pulling into the fairgrounds. Max looked out his window, peering up at all the attractions as they found a place to park. They get out of the car, David locking up manually as Max takes a deep breath in- the air was thin and crisp, so they were definitely high up in the mountains. After David gets their wristbands, they go into the grounds, Max completely enamored by all the sights and smells - there were lots of families here, as well as lots of couples linked arms. Max thought about doing that, but decided against it as soon as the idea popped in his head.

“Are you hungry?” David asks, as they were passing by several food stands.

“Yeah. I haven't eaten anything today besides some blueberries,” he admits.

“Oh gee - we better get you fed. What do you want?”

“Uh - gee. I don't know. Everything smells pretty good.”

“Oh! Have you ever had kettle corn?” David smiles, pointing over to a stand that was selling it by the trash bag full.

“Nah. Never. What's it like?” he asks, looking up at the ginger, who basically looked like he was bursting at the seams from joy.

“Well! We’re gonna have to go try it, huh?” He grins, taking Max by the arm, dragging him over to the stand. They get a much smaller bag of it, about 5 handfuls worth. David takes a few, and then hands Max the bag. The younger takes a piece out, examining it a moment before popping it in his mouth as they walk down the aisle of food stands and food trucks. It takes him a few moments to decide if he liked it or not.

“Yeah, that's pretty good. Not, like, earth shattering, but I can definitely see the novelty of it,” he states, looking around at the sights. It was definitely lively - children running around with painted faces, people playing carnival games, groups of teens lounging around chatting, tossing pieces of popcorn at each other. He continues to snack on the popcorn as he smiles, watching the people interact.

David gasps, “oh, oh! Max! Can we go on the ferris wheel? Pretty please?” The grown man pleads, practically hopping up and down with his hands curled together. Max looks up at him, “I - I guess?” he mumbles out, before averting his attention to the awfully large ferris wheel coming up ahead of them.

“Yes! You’re going to love it! The view from the top is absolutely breathtaking,” he beams, taking Max by the hand and dragging him over to the line, “I’ve been to this specific carnival every year for… Five years? I’m not sure. But everytime, I’m blown away at the view from the top.”

Max stares straight up to the metal death contraption in front of him.

“Are - you’re okay with going, right? Because we don’t have to if you don’t feel comfortable,” David adds, calming down. He then reaches out and takes the bag of popcorn from Max’s hands, snacking on the contents.

“Uh - yeah. I’m okay,” Max states, faking a light smile to reassure David. The man seemed so fucking excited about this, and he did not want to go about ruining this trip for him.

Their turn in line comes soon enough, David hopping in gladly, Max coming in not so sure after him.

“It’s really kind of scary the first time you go,” David explains as they start to go up rather slowly, “I was BEYOND frightened my first time, but once we got to the top? Golly. That view took all my worries away,” he smiles, looking over the edge.

Max bites his lip, looking down for a second - he immediately moved his attention up the the tree line, “yeah.”

David snacks on the popcorn as he continues, “PLUS! Since we’re up in the mountains, there’s this really cool valley you can see. I swear you can look out for miles.”

“Uhuh,” Max finds himself saying. Okay - he needs to start imagining something, because if he doesn’t go off into his own fantasy world, he’s going to have a mental breakdown - he does NOT need David to see that for the first time in ten years.

David returns his attention over to Max, “oh gee - Max, do you not like heights?”

“Huh? Oh - fuck,” he grumbles, “uh - heights are okay. I’m more worried about this cheap hunk of metal falling and killing us all instantly.”

“Oh!” David can’t help but laugh, “oh, Max, no. It’s not going to crash. The engineering is foolproof. This carnival is put up by the parks department every year - it’s federally owned. That being said, this equipment isn’t all rundown and old.”

“Sure but, like - jesus, what if some fatass gets on and makes the thing go over its capacity?”

David laughs almost a bit nervously, “I’m pretty sure your tiny little self doesn’t have to worry about that.”

“I mean like -”

David puts a hand on top of Max’s, “it’s going to be okay, Max. I’ve got you. And, well - if it does manage to go down? We’ll just go down together,” he smiles, looking Max in the eye. The younger of the two basically melts right there, hand in hand, his own being so much smaller than David’s.

“Yeah. You’re right.”

David smiles, squeezing the boys hand, before looking back out over the edge, “oh - look look look! We’re nearly at the top!” He beams, intertwining his fingers with Max’s instead of just placing it over the top.

Max looks over to his right - holy shit. David was right.

The mountains curved below them, the trees brilliant shades of maroons, reds, oranges, and yellows - there were roads that winded up the mountains ever so carefully, the cars passing on them not aware of the 50 foot drop below them. The sun was setting over there, nested comfortably between two hills. He follows the sun’s rays to his left, where the moon was already high in the sky. There was, indeed, the valley that David had mentioned. It went on for miles and miles, specks of homes littering the side. The sun’s bright red rays were making it appear that the trees were burst up in vibrant, brilliant flames in thousands of shades Max had never seen before. Behind this, the night was coming through, stars starting to litter the dark sky like flecks of amber coming off the trees’ flames.

A few moments pass until Max notices David was admiring him warmly. They make eye contact, and Max can feel his whole demeanor drop. The ginger smiles, his hair matching the lit up trees behind him, making him glow in a way that was beyond divine, “so…?”

Max couldn’t even get any words out - he notices their hands were still intertwined. It takes him several moments before he lets out, “holy _shit_.”

David looked beyond pleased, “oh, good!”

Max shakes his head, looking back out to the scene behind David, “I don’t even know what to say. You were so so _so_ right. This is fucking - amazing!” He grins, running a hand through his curly hair.

“So then - I hope the scare was worth it to come up here and see for yourself.”

“Fuck - _yes._ ”

David smiles, “want to see my favorite part?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely,” the younger grins, looking back towards David.

“Okay. Look,” he turns around, looking behind them, Max following suit, “see those three hills?”

“Mmhm?”

“Well, right between the second and third way back there - you can see the shimmers of a lake. Know what lake that is?”

Max shakes his head.

“Mmmkay. I’ll give you a clue. We’ve spent exactly ten summers there, you and I.”

“Oh fuck - Lake Lilac?”

David smiles, “yup! See - past it,” he points, “you can see Sleepy Peak.”

“Shiiiiit,” Max grins, “it all looks so small from here.”

David smiles lightly, almost looking a little melancholy. They take it all in for several moments, before sitting back right, Max peering back out towards his right, to the setting sun in all its brilliant colors. He admires it for several more moments, before David cuts in, “hey, Max?”

The boy darts his attention back to David, “what’s up?”

It’s quiet for several long moments - the older squeezes their hands together, “I’ve… been thinking. About something really important. And very serious.”

Max furrows his brows, “you okay? This isn’t some life threatening thing, right?”

David smiles, “no - no. It’s nothing like that. It’s - different. But still very serious.”

It’s silent for several moments, David looking really conflicted and unsure of what to say. He eventually settles on, “actually - let’s talk about it later. Okay?”

Max stays silent for several - the ferris wheel started to send them back down. He then adds, “you sure? Might make you feel better to just. Own up to whatever shit is going on in that head of yours,” he says as he flicks David’s forehead playfully.

The older man chuckles, “no no - let’s just - focus on here. And now. And nowhere else.”

“Suit yourself,” Max says, looking back out to the scenery, which was getting covered by the evergreens that were surrounding the fairgrounds. He caught himself wishing that they had stayed on the top there for a few more moments - just him and David. Maybe David was going to confess feelings for him.

_I’m in love with you, Max,_ he imaged David saying in his precious little voice. Max’s heart fluttered just thinking about it - he looked over to David, who was peering off his own side, watching as the mountains of flames obscured from view, being blocked out by the closer evergreens. David looks his way, the two making eye contact once more. Max couldn’t help but notice how perfectly the man’s eyes matched the evergreens behind him

In due time, they hop off the ferris wheel, looking around the carnival. Their hands were still intertwined.

“Have you ever had apple cider?” The ginger asks gently, nodding over to a truck that was handing out disposable to-go cups.

Max bites his lip, “like, once when I was really little. Was pretty good, as far as I can remember. But um -” he pauses, David leading them over to the truck, “I’mma be honest, David. I feel really bad. You’re spending so much goddamn money on my lazy ass. Like - god, it’s not like I’m broke or physically unable to work. I’m just a lazy piece of shit. I feel like I’m taking advantage of your hospitality.”

David just stares at him for several moments, kind of unable to say anything. He eventually speaks up, “Max - I don’t care about the money. What’s important to me, is that you’re happy, and that we get to spend time together.”

Max’s face heats up.

David continues, “you’re special to me, Max. And I genuinely love to spend time with you. Three dollars for a cup of apple cider is absolutely nothing to me,” he smiles.

Max has to avert his direction elsewhere. God fucking damn it.

It's silent for a few more moments before Max speaks up, “are you doing this all because you feel bad for me? And how shitty my parents were?”

David raises his brows, “oh my God - Max, no! I care about _you._ And yes - you carry the emotional baggage of how little your parents care… But… _I_ care, Max. I care SO much about you,” he smiles lightly, squeezing the boy’s hand, “and I love spending time with you and - yes, sometimes we do things that you should have experienced for the first time years ago. But that doesn't matter. I _love_ being the person who gets to share this all with you.”

Max just bites at his lip. He loved David _so_ much. He wanted desperately to wrap his arms around him and hold him tight from now until the end of time.

David continues, seeing as Max was having a hard time coming back with anything, “you’re an amazing person, Max. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart,” he states, holding Max's hand up close to his chest with his own. Fuck, he was so warm. “Okay? So. Three dollars for a cup of apple cider means absolutely nothing to me, if it means one of my all time favorite people in the world gets to enjoy something,” he smiles, letting go of Max’s hand to grab two cups from the vendor, handing them both to Max so he could pay her the $6.

Once paid, he took a cup from Max, and sips on it, “golly that’s good! What do you think?” he asks, looking over to Max, who looked like he was kind of spacing out. He wanted to hold David’s hand again, but that wasn’t going to happen, seeing as David was holding both an apple cider and the popcorn. He wanted to smoother the man in kisses and feel how warm his chest was even through all those layers of clothing. He wanted to hold him and love him and tell him _thank you_ over and over and over again.

“Max?”

“Hm?” The boy looks up, looking kind of startled.

“Are you okay? Was - was it something I said?”

Max panics, “no no! God, no. Nothing about you. You’re - perfect, as fucking always,” he states, before reaching over and grabbing a handful of popcorn and shoving it in his mouth - the bag was nearly empty, which means he could hold David’s hand again soon enough.

The older of the two smiles sympathetically, “are you sure?”

Max nods, “mmmhm,” he hums, as his mouth was full. He eventually gets out, “guess I was just zoning out. As I do.”

He smiles in response, “okay, Max. You better drink that cider before it gets cold! Warm apple cider in weather like this is much more preferable over cold.”

Max takes a sip, pausing for a moment to get the taste of it. He looks up at David, a grin forming, “that’s good.”

David lights up, “right!”

“Like - fuck. That’s reeeal good. Can’t believe I’ve been missing out on this for 18 years now,” he grins, taking another sip.

“Yes! I know right! God, I just LOVE Autumn and everything it brings!”

Max smiles, “you love _everything,_ dumbass.”

“Well - I love _most_ things. There’s some people in this world that… well… just need some help getting in the right direction!”

Max raises an eyebrow, “like who?”

“Mmm. I can’t think of anyone in specific,” he hums, eyes glued on a face painting stand as they walk by, “but! I mostly mean people who commit serious offenses, or just generally hurt other human beings with no reason.”

“You threw a chair at a dude because he was dating your ex,” Max grins.

The gingers face quickly heats up, “well - I - I’ve gotten better, I promise!”

“In all reality? It was kinda sweet.”

“Not really - I broke the poor man’s nose.”

“Sure, but then you apologized profusely, AND paid for all his hospital bills. All that in the name of love?”

“But that doesn’t excuse the fact -”

“Calm down, dude. I’m messing with you,” he states, and then elbows him, “check it out. Corn maze.”

“Oh - would - would you like to go?”

“Yeah. Let’s do it,” he says, looking over a sign at the entrance, “says there’s a secret prize to anyone who can get to the middle,” he grins, looking up at David, who didn’t seem nearly as excited about this as Max.

“Oh - well - that’s nice,” he smiles lightly.

“C’mon,” Max says as he leads them into the maze.

“You know - maybe we shouldn’t do this. It’s getting kind of dark,” David states - he was right. The sun was about halfway on the horizon line, the last slivers of daylight fading fast. Max moves his attention to David, “do you not wanna go?”

“Well - gosh. It’s more so the fact that I’m - a little claustrophobic after- after some stuff at camp when I was younger.

“Have you _ever_ done a maze before?”

David shakes his head, letting out a quiet, “no. Have you?”

Max grins, shaking his head.

The ginger stays silent for a few moments before stating, “okay. Let’s do it!”

Max leads them in further, taking random turns, the boy obviously finding this rather amusing as he leads their way. David just followed, snacking on the popcorn. Luckily, there were trash cans scattered here and there, as David was _highly_ against littering. They wander for quite a bit, passing by groups of people who looked equally as lost. David starts to sip his drink, trying to concentrate on the wonderful taste, rather than the walls that were to start closing in on him at any second.

Suddenly, Max takes him by the hand and drags him around a corner.

There was a small clearing with a bench in the middle, looking over what appeared to be a pumpkin patch. The sun was behind the horizon at this point, the sky behind the patch painted with reds and oranges, which fade into dark blue rather fast. On the edges of the cliff, there were guardrails, indicating it must be a pretty steep drop to the bottom.

David’s eyes light up, “well golly, would you look at that!” he states, walking out into the clearing, looking out towards the sky, “who knew this was even here!”

“This trip keeps getting better and better,” Max states, following him to the ledge. They stand there by the guard rail for several minutes, feeling the crisp air hit their skin and admiring at how the sky changed colors. It’s quiet, the sounds of the carnival muted now, perhaps swallowed up by the trees surrounding the fairgrounds.

Max goes and sits down on the wooden bench, shivering at contact. David follows suit, sitting down close to him. Hips touching close. The older of the two puts an arm around Max comfortably, drink in his other hand. He keeps him close, the two staying warm, bundled up next to each other. It was really starting to get cold now.

This was it. This must be what heaven is. Sitting on an old bench with the person you love, watching the sky change colors. Nothing else to worry about - no other issues or problems to face. Just him and David for now until the rest of time, curled up together, comfortable.

They sit there for maybe 10 minutes, watching the sky slowly fade to dark blue, the stars coming out from their hiding places. Max stares up at the celestial bodies, admiring how they dotted the sky. He moves his attention to David, peering up at him. He quickly noticed how his light freckles dotted his skin like the stars in the night sky.

And it was then, while admiring him, everything suddenly made sense. There was an obvious reason why David loved the wilderness so much: he _was_ the wilderness. His hair burned red like autumn leaves, eyes a deep green like the forest, his skin dotted with freckles as the night sky is dotted with stars. He was constantly warm and fun like the summer, loving and comfortable like the fall, relentless and gorgeous like the winter, all while still managing to be giving and pleasant like the spring… Everything seemed to trace back to David Wilde, as he really _was_ everything.

The boy wondered as to why did David, an obvious deity, want to spend time with _him?_

Max was nobody. Certainly not a divine being like David so obviously is.

The ginger looks down, meeting his eyes. He smiles.

_Mere inches._

Max wants so bad to kiss him - to feel the rose petals of his lips on his own. To feel the sun’s warmth of David’s body on his skin. To get lost in the forests of his eyes. To run little hands through the fires of his hair.

“You okay?” the man asks, cocking his head to the side, “you look a bit cold.”

“Uh - yeah - I am. We should probably get moving,” Max lies. In reality, he felt pretty warm. He could feel his cheeks were burning red from being flushed, while his body was warmed by David’s own - the warmth of the sun, even though the sun was beyond the horizon.

David smiles, getting up, “better go find whatever's in the middle, huh? I’m getting all curious now. Any ideas on what it might be?” He asks, guiding them back into the maze.

Max shrugs, “I’m not really sure - I haven’t given it much thought, actually.”

David smiles, “I bet it’s gonna be something really really fun. Like stickers! Or temporary tattoos!” he hums, finishing off his apple cider, throwing it in the trash can.

Max cracks up, “ _temporary tattoos_ is the funnest thing you can think of?”

“Oh - Max… It’s ‘most fun’.‘Funnest’ is not a word.”

“Thought you were a damn social studies teacher, not an English teacher,” he grins.

“You don’t need to be a teacher of Language Arts to know that, Max.”

The boy shrugs, “eh. Well. I’m still gonna use it,” he states, taking a sip of his cooling apple cider.

They wander for a bit longer, the two finally getting to the middle of the maze. It was a rather big clearing full of concession stands and some carnival games, lit by street lamps, as the sun’s light was no longer shining. Well - the _real_ sun, that was. David was still beaming with joy, as always.

There was a man by the entrance who was giving out rolls of tickets to the people who found the middle. He gives David and Max one each, explaining that there were 20 free tickets in there, which could be used for carnival games, concessions, and attractions.

David beams, practically skipping in, “well gee! I don’t know about you, but I kinda wanna play some carnival games,” he hums.

“Alright. You lead the way then,” the boy hums, David immediately responding by bounding off. Max follows him, smiling as he watches this grown man bounce up and down with excitement for fucking _carnival_ _games._

They play a few different games, Max being surprisingly good at the ring-toss - he wins them a stuffed animal cat of the color gray. Max names it Smokey 2.0 and gives it to David, who looked as if he was going to start crying any second.

While David was playing another game, Max wandered off, checking out the concessions. They were free, basically, so why not?

He picks up two cotton candies for him and David. He wanders over to the man, and offers it to him. David beams, gladly accepting the candy with a tight hug.

David uses the rest of his own tickets on one of those stupid light up wands they sell at carnivals or amusement parks - he gave it to Max, who seemed far too amused by it for an eighteen year old.

He waves it around a bit, changing the color settings, and pretends to cast spells that turn David into frogs and lizards and such. David played along with it, of course.

Max puts a hand in his jeans pocket and finds a few more tickets. He looks up at David, “here. Want em? You can go play that clown shooting game for the 90th time,” he grins.

“Oh no no - they’re yours, Max,” he smiles, “use em on something _you_ want, huh?”

The boy looks around a bit, considering what there was to do - they practically played every game here, seeing as they really only had about 5 games. Hot chocolate maybe? He probably wouldn’t have enough for two.

Maybe - oh shit.

Max points over to the bouncy castle with the wand, “ _that’s_ what I wanna do,” he grins.

David’s eyes light up, “oh, gee. Not sure if they’d let two adults go. Got a backup plan just in case we can’t?”

Max leads em over to the bounce castle, “yeah. C’mon.”

The person in charge let them in, seeing as it was slowing down - most families have gone home by now, having to get their kids in bed for school tomorrow.

The two take their shoes off and leave their possessions out with the guard.

“I know you’ve heard this probably 800 times today,” Max starts, climbing in after David, “but I’ve only been in one of these once at some kids’ birthday party I magically got to go to.”

“Only once? Oh my goodness, Max!” David then laughs, “me and every one of my friends had one at all our birthday parties,” he grabs Max’s hands, “these things were practically a staple of the 90s.”

“Oh fuck that’s right,” the younger of the two says, holding tight onto David’s hands as he bounced, “what year were you born again, old man?”

“1993. Goodness, did we have fun back then,” he beams, seemingly not hearing that very last part - or just ignoring it.

“Hah - yeah.”

“You’re - 2002 then? Considering you’re 18 right now.”

“Yeah. Gen Z, babyyy,” he calls out, playfully, landing on his ass. David offers him a hand up, but Max drags the man down with him.

David lets out a little yelp as he falls on top of Max, before cracking up, “oh! You little rascal!” He grins.

“Hehehe,” Max says aloud, before pushing the man off him and hopping back up. He hops around a bit while David just kind of watches him. The boy eventually adds, “c’mon, David! You’re not tired already, are ya?”

“Oh - geez,” he gets himself back up, having a rather hard time as Max was bouncing around, making the whole inflatable shake, “okay okay,” he smiles, “I’m up.”  
Max grins as he takes one of David’s hands, the pair’s jumps slowly starting to synchronize, although Max went up higher - probably account to his small weight.

The two hop around a bit longer, laughing and joking about who knows what. David eventually falls on his ass, dragging Max down with him, as they were still holding hands. They lay down, looking up to the open sky above them, as the bounce castle had an open top. They sit there in silence again for several moments, both of them catching their breath. Kids made bouncy castles look easy - either that, or the two were just easily winded by the thin air this high up in the mountains.

They take several moments before they climb back out, getting their belongings from the guard outside. Once their shoes were on and such, they decide to head out from the center of the maze. They go through the whole thing again, this time David wasn’t so scared about it, funny enough.

They get through it fairly quickly this time, coming back to the main fairgrounds. They wander around for a bit more, Max complaining about how he was going to die from the cold several hundred times - David offers for them to go home, which the boy refuses.

They play some more little games - David winning a few small things like lollipops and more tickets, mostly for participating. The man gives a strawberry lollipop to Max - he now had accumulated a total of four.  
Max pops it in his mouth, waving the cheap plastic wand around a bit, watching the colors stream - David watches him closely, before mussing up the boy’s curls, “hey. Max.”

“Yeah?” the boy responds, keeping his eyes on the wand.

“Have you ever been on a carousel?”

“Mmm. No. Do they have one?” He asks, looking up at David as he turns his light wand off and sliding it into his hoodie pocket. It didn't quite fit, but it stayed in its place.  
“Yeah! Look,” he points around a corner of vendors, where the beaded lights of a carousel peeked through, spinning gently.  
Max pops the lollipop out of his mouth as he admired the spinning, almost hypnotizing lights. He looks up to David, “you wanna go?”  
The ginger smiles, “sure! If you’d like to.”

“Mmm. Yeah. Sure,” he hums, putting the lollipop back in his mouth, leading them over to the attraction. It was absolutely huge up close. They get in line, Max keeping his eye on the attraction as it spun, watching all the couples laugh and take photos.  
Their turn comes about, several of the people on the last go around come back and ride it again. David hops up first, and gives Max a hand up. The boy gladly takes it, before the two try to find a pair of horses side by side - unfortunately, they didn’t. David has Max sit up on one they find, while he stands next to him, holding onto the pole for balance.

“There’s another one up there,” Max points, “if ya want.”

“Mmm. I’d rather be next to you,” he smiles that gorgeous, absolutely flawless smile that he does, melting Max’s insides completely - that shuts the boy right on up.

The attraction starts, Max gripping rather hard to the pole in front of him at first, unsure and cautionary. A few moments in though, he felt better about it, not gripping so hard. This… Was kinda fun? As stupidly childish as he felt, he was having a blast. He looks down towards David, who had his phone pointed towards him, snapping pictures.

Max wondered if he was going to take pictures today, seeing as he had such an affinity for it apparently.

The ride ends after a few minutes, the two hopping off and going back out to the rest of the carnival.

“As much fun as we’ve had here, I’m pretty hungry for some actual food,” David says.

“Yeah. Me too. Anything even open this late? Or - ya know, close by.”

“Um - here - why don’t we go back out to the car and look it up in some heat,” he smiles.

“Lord. Yes PLEASE. I’m so fucking COLD! I feel like that fucker in _The Shining._ ”

David raises a brow, “I don’t believe I know what you mean?”

“Shit - you’ve never seen _The Shining_?”

“Nnnnnnnooooo?”

“Well shit. We’ll have to watch it one night. It’s a fuckin’ classic.”

“Oh no… Is it graphic?”

“Mmmmmmm. Sort of, but it’s more of a psychological thriller than a slasher film.”

“Gosh…” the man pauses, “I’ll watch it as long as you’re with me,” he smiles.

They were now outside of the park, trying to find David’s car, but there were so many automobiles here. They search around for several minutes, until eventually finding the old junker towards the back.

They get in, Max turning the heat up as soon as the engine spurts to life before settling into his seat. David searches on his phone for a bit for someplace to eat for several minutes, Max letting his eyes fall close. Damn - he didn’t realize how tired he had been until just now.

“IHOP?”

“Huh?” Max looks up to the ginger, whose features were illuminated only slightly by his phone screen.

“Looks like IHOP is really the only place around here that’s open late, besides fast food.”

“Mmm. Okay. IHOP is fine then,” Max hums, looking back out the window. After a few moments of David setting up the GPS on his phone, they take back off down the road, Max watching the stars overhead.

Just like David’s freckles. Beautiful and mesmerizing - yet so barely out of reach.

They drive for maybe 20 minutes, Max trying his hardest to keep his eyes open as he watches the trees shoot past them on the long winding road down the mountain side. Eventually though, they get to the restaurant - the bright glaring lights waking Max up just a tad.  
They go inside, practically no one dining this late at night. The hostess gives them a booth in the far corner of the store by a window. Max felt some remembrance back to parent’s day in 2012.

The waitress looked equally as exhausted, taking their orders for drinks as soon as they sat down. David, a water, while Max gets himself a hot chocolate. After she leaves, David speaks up, “I’ve had a lot of fun tonight, Max. Thank you so much for coming with me.”

“Mmm. Yeah, thanks for paying for absolutely everything,” he states, playing with his napkin that was still curled up with the utensils placed safely inside.

David smiles, “it’s my utmost pleasure. To be frank, Max - I think this was one of the best trips to the carnival I’ve had yet! I think you’re just amazing company,” he states, resting his chin on his hand, watching the boy carefully.

Max lets a light smile go across his face, “eh. You’re just saying that.”  
“Wha - no! I had an insane amount of fun today, thanks to you. I’m so glad we got to go together. Truth is, I’ve been wanting to take you, but the past couple of days have been so rainy and all. I'm so glad that today was sunny!”

The boy smiles, “yeah. Me too.”

Their drinks come, the waitress taking their orders as well. David gets a salad as always, Max getting an omelet with hash browns. Maybe he should have stuck to one of the healthier options too…

“You’re going to have to let me eat some of your hash browns,” the ginger states after the waitress leaves, “with you living here, I’ve started to get a hankering for junk food again. Really feeling like a teen again,” he grins, before sipping at his water.

“Pffft. Yeah. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad for us to start eating a bit better,” Max says, looking down to his hot chocolate - there was a thick layer of whipped cream on top.

“Well, gee. If you’d like to! I’m definitely not opposed to getting back into my usual eating habits.”

“Maybe I can start cooking stuff for us,” Max suggests without thinking. He pictures himself dressed up in some 50s housewife dress - black with white polka dots. He imagines cooking David all sorts of stuff for him to try when he gets back home from work everyday. Max suppresses a small grin.

David smiles, “goodness! That would be terrific! Maybe we can go shopping for ingredients tomorrow or something.”

“Yeah. Maybe,” the boy responds, not taking his eyes off his cocoa. He takes a sip, melting right into it as it warmed his whole body up - he closed his eyes. Thank fucking god. It was little shit like IHOP hot cocoa at 10 pm that made this life worth while sometimes.

“Tired?” David hums lightly.

Max opens his eyes, David smiling at him, “uh - a little bit.”

“Yeah. I am too. Just a little bit,” he says, moving his attention to look out the window. He watches as cars pass by on the road, headlights barely lighting up their path.

After a few minutes, their food finally arrives, David digging in nearly as soon as the waitress leaves. Max hesitates before starting in on his own - he felt bad for eating such greasy disgusting food.

The two of them chat a bit while they finish their supper, and when the waitress comes with the checkbook, Max swipes it up before David even had time to process. The boy stares at the receipt while David protested, “oh - gosh, Max! I got it,” he puts his hand out, signalling that he wanted Max to hand him the check.

Max shrugs, “eh. Don’t worry about,” he states, adding a tip with a cheap pen they provided with the check, “you’ve paid for absolutely everything today. I’d feel awful if I didn’t contribute a little bit.”

“But, Max! Goodness. You don’t even have a job! And you’re still a teenager!”

“Oh - quit it with that shit. I _have_ money in my card,” he states, taking his wallet out and taking his card out, “and besides - I’m CHOOSING to not get a job.”

“But -”

“Oh my god, David, shut up. I’m trying to do something nice,” the boy states, besides letting a small grin creep onto his face.

David stares at him for several moments, before crossing his arms, “fine… Thank you, Max.”

Max rolls his eyes, “it’s whatever,” he states, handing the waitress the checkbook as she comes to retrieve it.

After they pay and all, they head back out to David’s car for their long trek back home. Somewhere along the way, Max’s breathing becomes deep - he must have fallen asleep. David peers over to him at a stop light, nothing but the bright red traffic light and the lights of a gas station across the road to illuminate his sleeping face. David smiles, admiring him - he was curled up against the door. It wasn’t until some asshole behind him honks, does David realize the light had turned green.

They get home, David having to nudge Max gently to wake him up. The boy lets out a low groan as he sits up, rubbing his eyes. Without a word, he grabs his stuff and exits the car, not even waiting for David to get out. He treks up the stairs, eyes barely open. Shit, was he fucking exhausted. He couldn’t wait to get inside and absolutely collapse on the sofa.

David follows him up, Max shivering by the door, waiting for the ginger to unlock it. Once the door is opened, Max immediately goes inside, puts his stuff down on the far end of the sofa, and starts to strip himself of his two jackets. Smokey comes darting out from the kitchen, and rubs all up on David’s legs. He shows the feline his small stuffed Smokey 2.0, the cat rubbing up against that too.

Once Max was out of his jackets, he flops down on the sofa, not caring that he was still in his jeans. David, on the other hand, comes into the kitchen to wash his hands - he made sure to not turn any lights on to disturb his roommate. Once he was done, the ginger comes and kneels next to the boy, knees popping as he does so, “one last thing, Max,” David whispers.

“Mmm?” The boy responds, opening his eyes lazily to see the ginger mere inches away from him.

“Thank you for coming with me and making this trip amazing. And - overall? Just making my life so much better. You make me really happy, Max.”

The boy suppresses a grin, face getting kind of red, “pffffft. Yeah. You too,” he pauses, eyes falling closed again, “go to bed,” he gets out quietly.

David stays there for a few seconds after, just kind of admiring him. He ruffles up the boy’s hair, before getting up, covering him with a quilt, and going into his bedroom - only to lay awake for several hours, excitedly reflecting on the day, until he had to wake up in the morning for school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dunno' if you've picked up on it yet, but Max has some... interesting fantasies.


	5. Welcome To The Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max and David do some home improvement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been sitting in Google docs for months now. I'm finally getting myself to release it.  
> It's ungodly long, and about the length of chapters 1 through 3 combined. But it's also ungodly boring. So... Be prepared for some more fluff and comfort with little to no plot.  
> TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER: Child abandonment, jokes about abortion, and talk about immigrant deportation. The jokes on abortion get a little gruesome and detailed on how the actual procedure goes. Stay safe everyone!

The next few days went by smoothly for them, as it always seemed to do. Thursday was another cold day - David gave Max some money for groceries, as well as a list of things to get. Max begrudgingly follows it, seeing as most the stuff on there was like, vegetables and fruit and almond flour and shit. David really _did_ mean what he said about eating healthier last night, huh?

Friday was good as well - Max visited the school again to David’s request, bringing him Chick-Fil-A. Okay so… Maybe he _wasn’t_ all that serious. Max didn’t mind though. He sat in the classroom for a bit, the two of them chatting about everything and anything as they often do, until David’s 5th period came in. Max tried to scamper out of there as soon as possible, but the students absolutely BEGGED that Mr. Max stay for class today. David wasn’t so sure, but he decided to let him stay just for today, as it was an easy lecture and notes day on family trees and all. Max sits in the back of the classroom, looking over the activity sheet - he starts to fill one out just for kicks.

The funny part was, he was going to leave after 5th, but he didn’t. He sat in David’s classroom for all of study hall too. The kids crowded around him like he were a magnet for some reason - they asked him all sorts of questions and poked fun at him. David went through and asked if everyone was done with all their homework, to which they all replied that they had no homework on Fridays, and went back to chatting with Mr. Max and asking on how old he _really_ was - they were all certain he was an 8th grader. He shows them all his driver’s license, but there were still a few kids that didn’t quite believe him, saying it was a fake to go do adult things.

Max made sure he was to leave for sixth, seeing as David had an actual conference to get to with other teachers - he couldn’t sit in the back like a fucking child for that one.

Saturday was good too - David went out with his friends jogging as he had promised. Max stayed home and decided to start watching a Netflix series - he browsed for a bit, laughing lovingly at all the things David had recommended to him on his account. He should… Maybe ask David if he can make a profile? Or does that seem too committal? Max would have to ask him about it later.

_Finally_ Sunday rolls around.

Max rolls out of bed that morning, getting himself a cup of coffee right off the bat. As odd as it was? He was oddly excited about today. Today, he was going to paint a wall with David. Very, very, mundane. But David always seems to make everything fun - even if it is as boring and awful as painting a wall. Once his coffee was done brewing, he meanders over to David’s bedroom, peering in. David was at a small, plastic pull-up table, a bright red sewing machine set in front of him, as well as a few yards of materials that it looked like he was sewing together. The table was pulled up to his bed, which he was sitting at. With this new addition, his room was uncomfortably cramped now.

The ginger looks up at Max and smiles, “mornin’, sleepy head!”

“Hi,” Max says lightly, inviting himself in and plopping down at his bed. He takes a large sip of his coffee, before setting it down on a free spot on the table.

David rustles his hair, “you’re up pretty early! I didn’t wake you up, did I?”

“No,” Max grumbles, climbing past David to lay on the bed the right way, looking up at the ceiling - he stretched his legs out past David, as he didn’t have that luxury on the couch. He makes himself comfortable, David looking over his shoulder and watching him warmly.

Once he’s all settled in, Max asks, “what time is it?”

“Let’s see. It is…” David starts, checking his watch, “9:15.”

“Holy shit,” he grins.

“Told ya’ you’re up early!” David beamed, “taking on after me, maybe?”

Max rolls his eyes, “you wish, old man.”

David laughs, before going back to work - it looked like the early starts of a quilt. The colors were dark blue and a kind of forest green.

They sit in silence for quite some time, other than the hum of the sewing machine every few moments. Max peers over to the window across from him - it was bright today, and looked like it might be warmer. He hoped so, as they’d have to ventilate the apartment of paint. He then looks up to David, whose undivided attention was at the quilt at hand.

The ginger pauses, obviously thinking about something as he looks up. He gets up and opens up the sheer curtains, and then opens the old window. He smiles, putting his hands at his hips, “much better,” he sings, coming back to work at the quilt, “was getting a bit stuffy in here,” he explains to Max, who was just more confused at how they were _absolutely_ just on the same wavelength there.

Max moves to lay on his side, watching as David worked - watching his long fingers knead and work so diligently. No worries of messing up it seemed, as he was working so fluently, as if he’d done this one hundred times before. Max smiles, watching his seamless movements, as it was particularly satisfying to the boy. He then reaches his arm out to reach for his coffee, but before he had to sit up and get it, David grabs the mug and hands it back to him without even having to look to see that Max wanted his coffee. He just knew. Max gladly takes it from his lying position, sipping at it slowly.

His eyes fall closed as he listens to the hum of the machine, the leaves swaying on trees outside with the wind, the last few birds singing before migration, the photographs on the walls shuffling from the breeze, and to the sound of David just simply being alive - how he moved and breathed and sometimes made little humming sounds when something turned out how he liked.

Max held tight to his coffee mug, taking this moment in. Since living with David, he’s felt so much more calm - less hostile and angry like he was when he was younger… Or maybe that anger was just a product of living with his parents. He liked feeling calm and in control of his emotions. He felt like he could actually enjoy life more, as stupid and cheesy as that sounded.

“Max?” A quiet, small voice asks.

“Mm?”

“Happy?”

The younger of the two hesitates before responding, “yeah.”

Max could tell he was smiling, even though he couldn’t see the man’s face, “good. You deserve to be,” he says lightly, before getting back to work.

The teen thought about what he meant… _You deserve to be._ To be… happy? You deserve to be happy? Goddamnit, why was David so good at saying such mundane things that make him feel so good?  
The two sit around like this for maybe 30 minutes, David taking breaks every so often to check in on Max - to make sure the boy didn’t feel forgotten about or something of that sort. Or… maybe it was the other way around. To make sure Max hadn’t forgotten about _him_.

Max wished that David would stop at his quilt and just lay with him a bit, but that never did happen. The ginger gets up and stretches his back out with a few pops - he laughs and makes a joke about not getting his morning stretch in today. He exits the room, Smokey popping out from under the bed to follow him - so _that’s_ where he had been. Max takes a few minutes before he comes in and follows him, mostly intrigued by the sound of pots and pans clanging together. He comes into the main room, peering over to where David was starting breakfast. Max decides to open up the windows of the living room as well, letting in that fresh mountain air. God, he missed the summer.

Max decides to push in the pullout section of the couch, and fixes up the quilts in the manner David liked - strewn up on the backing of the couch. He cleans up a bit around his area, throwing away trash and such. He felt good. It felt nice to have a clean space. It felt even better to share that space with someone whom he cared deeply about.

Max went over and took out a pair of jean shorts from his duffle bag - he hadn’t worn them since working this summer, but today just felt right. He gets changed in the bathroom, coming back out and plopping down on the couch, peering out the window, feeling the cool breeze hit his skin. God damn it. He felt really weird and gushy today.

He peered over to David, who was busy working away on the kitchen. Max imagines coming up behind him, and wrapping his arms around the taller man gently and lovingly.

He imagines David putting his much larger hands on Max’s holding him tightly, before letting go to face him. He imagines they make eye contact, before David leans in for a very very gentle kiss - he imagines the rush he gets from his soft lips on his own. David leans back and says lightly _I love you, Max._

Shivers go up Max’s spine just thinking about it - every time he imagines David saying those words in his delicate voice, Max’s whole body seems to melt. Fuck, he wished he could her him utter that in real life instead of just his imagination.

“Hey, Max?” The ginger calls from the kitchen.

He peers over, “mm?”

“Wanna help me with breakfast?”

That typically sounds like a chore, but Max was more than excited to help him out. He pops up and walks over there, making sure to take his coffee mug with him, “what do ya want me to do?”

“Could you cut up these strawberries please?” He asks, pointing to a small bowl of strawberries that were presumably just washed.

“10-4, David,” Max smiles, finding a paring knife from the knife block and getting to work. The kitchen was a bit cramped, but David was mostly just at the sink washing some other fruits, so it was bearable.

“You know, Max. I’ve been thinking,” David starts lightly as he washed a bundle of blueberries.

“This bout that thing you were gonna tell me on the ferris wheel on Wednesday?”

He grins, “no no. Different thing I’m thinking about.”

“Damn… _You_? Using that brain of yours to process multiple things at once?” Max jokes, a smile to his tone - David laughs, “I know! Believe it or not, humans are capable of thinking about multiple things at once.”

Max grins, “well damn. Who woulda thought?”

“Okay okay. Well, I’ve been doing some looking lately for bigger apartments. And I found a really nice little complex up north from here? It’s much closer to the school, which is a plus for me. They’ve got a really nice two bedroom. More than double the size of the apartment we’re in right now.”

Max stays quiet, looking up at David, who has no longer washing off the fruit. David decides to continue, “there’s a small pet fee, but that’s nothing. The kitchen is much bigger too! There’s a gym there and everything,” he smiles, taking a couple steps towards Max, “aaaaand… there’s a patio too! And there’s a covered parking option we could get for your cycle? It’s a little bit extra, but I don’t mind!” he beams.

Max scratches the back of his neck, furrowing his brows lightly. David starts to wring his hands - he seemed really excited about this. Yet, also kind of nervous to propose this.  
“Are… You asking me to move in with you? Like. Officially?”

David kind of shrugs and nods, “yes? In a way,” he smiles.

Max stays quiet, looking back over to the strawberry he was halfway done with chopping up. Why did this feel like a big deal? Like… Less of a I’m-Living-on-Your-Couch-for-Free and more of a We-Actually-Care-About-Each-Other-and-Want-to-Live-Together type situation. He starts to chop at the strawberry again, “how much is rent?”

“It’s a little less than $1500 a month,” David says, “and. I’m probably gonna’ ask you to pitch in,” he smiles, “if that’s okay.”

Max smiles, taking this all in. He’d have to get a job, huh? He finds himself asking, “does it got a fire place?”

David laughs, “oddly? The two bedroom model doesn’t, but the one bedroom does. Weird, right?”

Max scrunches his face up for a moment, before he says, “I know why. If you live alone, you need a fireplace to keep you warm in those winter months. If you have another person? You can just cuddle up next to them.”

“Darn… What if I wanna bundle up with someone AND have a fireplace?” David grins, going back to washing some fruit off.

“Oh, well _that_? That’s called a boyfriend,” Max responds rather quickly, before regretting it immediately after.

David’s cheeks heat up just a tad, “well - that’s a fair way to put it. But I think it might be good for you to have your own little room. And your own bed! It must be so tiring to sleep on the couch. And I think I can give up a _fireplace_ for you, Max.”

“What? You don’t wanna get a couple twin beds and shove em in a tiny ass room? Could be just like caaaaaaamp,” the boy teases, looking over to David who was rinsing off a peach. The ginger grins, “goodness. You’re something else, Max. You know that, right?”

“Oh trust me, I know,” he grins, before adding, “k. Strawberries are done. What next?”

“Peaches please!” The man hums, handing him two freshly washed peaches.

Max takes them, starting to slice one up. It’s very quiet for several moments again, besides the sounds from outside and the two of them moving around in the kitchen. Max decided to speak up, “okay, so. I’m not… opposed to moving in together. For real this time. And whatever place you wanna get is fine. We can stay here another year if you want, I don’t care. I’ll - start paying rent when the new lease comes around if you want or… earlier? I don’t care, man. You just tell me what the fuck to do and I’ll do it.”

David thinks this over before saying, “well, I definitely think we need a little more space. And… I’m not opposed to the one bedroom idea. It’s a bit cheaper, which is nice.”

“AND it’s got that fire place you want.”

“Oh my goodness - I think you want it more than I do at this point,” he smiles, looking over to the boy who was eating a slice of peach.

“Mmmm. Yeah, you got me. I do want it. It sounds really fucking nice,” he grins, handing David a slice of peach without looking - somehow he knew the ginger was looking his way. David takes the slice and starts to nibble at it, “okay, right? Goodness, now I’m all excited for it!”

“K, so. Are we doing the one bedroom then?”

“Mhm! It’ll be JUST like camp!” he beams, “except better!”

Max looks back at him, eyebrows raised, “Camp Campbell is your favorite place on this shit rock floating in space. I cannot believe you just said that.”

“Okay well - maybe not _better_ , per say. Maybe… Just as great. I mean, we’ll be moving in together -”

“For real this time.”

“ - Yes! And we’ll be closer to the school, and we’ll have our very own patio!”

Max grins, “hey. Don't forget the fireplace.”

“Right right! _And_ our very own fireplace,” David smiles, taking the chopped up strawberries, putting them into a colander with some blueberries, “goodness, I am SO excited now!”

Max shakes his head lightly (despite grinning) as he puts all the peach slices into the colander as well, “you’re a dork.”  
David just smiles as he goes into the fridge and pulls out some plain yogurt, and then some oats from the pantry. He gets two bowls, putting oats at the bottom and yogurt on top. He grabs the colander and puts a handful of fruit on top. He hands Max a bowl, “here we go! Breakfast is served.”

Max grabs them both spoons, “looks good as fuckin always,” he says, heading over to the couch. He plops down, stirring the contents of the bowl together, “thanks.”

David smiles as he follows him over, “sure, Max. You did most of the hard work anyways.”

The two sit at the couch as they eat, Max peering out the open windows as the breeze blew the billowy curtains around in the slightest. Today was going to be such a good day.

He and David chat a bit through breakfast, but it was mostly quiet - which was odd, seeing as Max usually put some sort of music on. The younger of the two collects their bowls as David goes to get changed out of his longue wear, and into “something more suitable for painting”. He comes back in a few moments later in an old pair of khaki shorts and a really tattered up t-shirt. He tosses something towards Max, who catches it from his spot in the kitchen. The boy peers at what it was - a large, paint splattered marathon t-shirt.

“Put that on. Don’t wanna get your actual shirt all splattered,” David explains, Max obliging and pulling it on over his other shirt. The thing practically drowned him, but he went along with it anyways.

After, they go into David’s room, moving everything out of the way of the wall - they shoved everything up against the bed on the opposite wall, and placed all the knick knacks and such on the bed itself. Max went out and retrieved the bucket of paint, some brushes, a paint roller, and one of those paint roller trays from the kitchen.  
David has Max get started with the paint roller on the middle of the wall, while he paints around the baseboard and door frame, careful not to let it drip or get on the carpet.

The two paint in silence for quite some time, taking today in for what it was. They talked here and there, but were mostly quiet and comfortable.

Some time in, the younger of the two asks if he could play some music, to which David smiles and asks Alexa to shuffle Max’s music without a second thought.

 

_Hello, hello, hello, hello (hello, hello, hello, hello)_ __  
_It's a motherfucking pleasure (It's a motherfucking pleasure)_ __  
_No pressure, but would you like to blow my mind_ __  
_And move too fast and plan our perfect lives together? (Plan our perfect lives together)_ __  
_Holy, holy, holy, holy (holy shit), you mean to tell me, tell me, tell-_ __  
_You're tough to love when you don't love yourself? Well_ __  
_Welcome to the family_ __  
_Welcome to the family_ __  
_Welcome to the family_ __  
_My less exciting features are packed inside my body_ __  
_They're crammed into the balcony, they're jamming up the lobby_ __  
_They're falling out the window_ __  
_You can see them crashing through the glass_ __  
_When I don't keep my lids closed as the director flicks his wrist_ __  
_The stagehand in the wing has got a silver chain he grips_ __  
_And when he lifts it opens up the velvet curtains of my lips_ __  
_And I say_ __  
_Welcome to the family_ __  
_Welcome to the family_ __  
Welcome to the family

 

It was almost 3 by the time they finally finished painting, leaving David’s room all jumbled up as they let the paint dry. Max starts to rinse out the paint brushes, while David comes over to the window in the living room; it was still a sunny and temperate day. He smiles, taking in a breath of the fresh air, rather than the paint he’d been smelling for several hours.

Max turns his music off before pointing out, “looks like its getting a bit windier.”

“Think it might be another cold front moving in?”

“There’s, like, three clouds in the sky, David.”

The ginger smiles gently, sitting down on the couch. He reaches over for the remote, turning the Weather Channel on, and then turning the volume way down to match the quiet of today.

Once the brushes were successfully cleaned, Max decides to make a cup of tea for David, glancing over at the TV every so often. He has watched how David always makes his tea - three teaspoons of sugar _after_ heating it for one minute and thirty seconds. He comes back over with the steaming cup of tea, handing it to David as he sits down on the couch next to him.

“Oh - thank you, Max. I was just thinking about how I was feeling a bit parched,” he smiles, scooting over to sit right next to the boy. Like - _right_ next to him. Hips touching close. He wraps his arm around Max loose and comfortable, sipping at the tea in his hand. The older of the two smiles, obviously liking the taste. The two share a gaze of mutual understanding of how Max made it just like he would have.

They look back to the TV, a rather content  smile on David’s face. They watch whatever statistics and maps they had up on the screen, waiting for it to show about the Sleepy Peak area. There was a cold front coming in, but it wasn’t to be too nasty. David turns the TV down a few more decibels, closing his eyes as he sipped at his tea, relaxing back into the couch.

Max picks up on his body language, “when’s the last time you got some sleep?” he asks quietly as to not disturb him too much.

“Oh gee,” David grinned, eyes still closed, “today’s Sunday? So… I got two hours last night, which was good. Before that… Uh… Thursday night I believe.”

“Jesus. Okay,” Max says, getting up and out of David’s arms. The ginger opens his eyes kind of disturbed, peering to Max who was kneeling down to open up the pull-out part of the couch. David brings his long legs up so Max can pull it out all the way.

Once the couch was doubled in size, the teen comes back up, setting up the pillows on the side facing the window (which was how he usually slept). The ginger obviously picks up on what the intentions behind Max’s actions were, as he sets his mug down and lays down after Max was done fluffling up the pillows and such. The younger comes back over, laying down next to David, who immediately relaxes.

Max faces the TV, watching the loops of graphics that were comforting with exposure. He listened to the soft melodies of instrumental tracks - fake music to fill in space so it wasn’t just the sounds of everyday life. Something to keep you engaged and focus on statistics with little meaning to most people.

David moves to his side, wrapping an arm around Max almost instinctively - the teen closed his eyes at the touch. It would seem weird to anyone else, but Max knew how touchy the man was. After ten years, the teens gotten used to being cuddled and hugged for nearly every occasion. He used to hate it. Now, he practically craved his roommate's touch. Within due time, everything blurred: the weight of a comfortable arm around him, the sounds of birds outside, the calming light of the sun outside the window, the poor instrumental music on the TV, the feelings of a sleeping roommate curled up next to him. All his worries and issues washed away with the promise of a good nap, comfortable in the arms of someone else.

 

_“Yeah, I know. I’ve checked every piece of paperwork since 2010, and I found nothing that is responsive... I know… I’m not sure what to do… Oh! No, but that’s a grand idea. Thank you Gwen! I’ll go ahead and do that right now! Hugs!”_

_Max heard his counselor shuffling around inside the cabin, before his boots start hitting the hard concrete of the cabin closer and closer, followed by the loud slamming of the cabin door, “oooookay! I got the official Cameron Campbell’s Camp Campbell Counselor Code of Conduct,” the ginger says in his overly cheerful voice as he sits down next to the camper on the steps._

_The boy looks at the large binder in David’s lap as the man laughs, “that sure is a lot of letter c’s!”_

_“I’ll give you two more letter c’s,” Max starts, “my parents. Cunt one and cunt two.”_

_David’s eyes go wide, “Max!”_

_The boy just shakes his head, looking back out to the woods in front of them. The trees were starting to create long shadows by the sun’s position in the sky, creating dark pockets between each tree as the leaves burned red from the setting summer sun._

_“Ooookay,” David says, running a hand over a long table of contents, “hm. Do you think this is closer to ‘Camper’s Parents Died on way to Camp Closing Day’ or ‘Camper’s Parents Came One Day Early to Camp Closing Day’?”_

_“The first one. They’re fuckin’ dead to_ me _alright.”_

_David stays silent, humming a bit as he flips to that section in the binder. He decides that wasn’t what he was looking for, going back to the table of contacts and skimming through it again. The ginger furrows his brows, before a light smile formed on his face, “I think I found the most similar. ‘Lost Parent Information in Freak Fire that wasn’t because of Poor Electrical Work,’” he says, pointing at it as he smiles up at Max. The boy glances at it a moment, and then back out to the forest that he wasn’t supposed to be looking at right now._

_The ginger takes a deep breath, looking down to the binder a moment before closing it and setting it to the side, “how ‘bout I go through that later?”_

_Max doesn’t respond, his face staying the same as he peers out, admiring how the reds got hotter, the blacks got darker, and shadows got longer._

_David looks at the boy for several moments, before looking out to the forest as well. The two are quiet as they listen to nature, the day time tucking itself away as the night teases to come play._

_“I’m sorry, Max,” David says finally, his voice small and sweet, barely above a whisper. Max considers this a moment, before letting his eyes fall to his shoes. He needed new shoes. These ones were too tight now, unfitting the growing boy. He shrugs, “it’s whatever. I shouldn’t even be surprised at this point. Especially after that shit they pulled on my fucking birthday. They’re cunts.”_

_David stays quiet, eyes wide and eyebrows worried as he looks back at Max. The teen adds, “I vote we call the fucking cops. I’m fucking tired of them. Get their asses deported back to India. You know Trump would do it too,” he hisses, “some shit foster home would be better than this hell.”_ _  
_ _“Max…”_

_The boy shoots David a look - they share eye contact for a moment before David continues, “I’m sure there’s a good reason. They haven’t ever forgotten your birthday before. They always get you a little something or a card. Besides… They just aren’t picking up. I’ve left them several voicemails. Maybe they’re busy tonight or in a circumstance that they can’t use their phone.”_

_Max furrows his eyebrows, his whole body filling with rage, “I’m fucking tired of excuses! They are my stupid fucking bullshit parents! They_ knew _what they were getting into when they decided against getting an abortion! And yet they still do this bullshit!”_

_“MAX!”_

_The teen shoots him a look, but David couldn’t even think of what to say - Max just gets up, going back into the counselor’s cabin, leaving the older of the two out on the deck. Within a few seconds of the cabin door slapping shut, David gets up and follows him, “Max - I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have shouted,” he says, peering down at the now fourteen-year-old who was rustling through his one duffle bag of things that was supposed to get him through two whole months at camp. He was taking out a few things as David continued, “I was just surprised I suppose.”_

_“What about it? It’s fucking true.”_

_David bites his lip, thinking for a moment before he goes, “well, if it’s any consolation, I’m glad that… Wasn’t the course of action they decided to take.”_

_“I’m not,” the teen responds cooly._

_“Max, let’s not -”_

_“They shoulda vacuumed my bits up before I went and gave em both such a fuckin’ headache, obviously.”_

_“Max. C’mon -”_

_“Or! Hey! If they waited, they coulda’ gone in there with those fancy fuckin’ tweezers and take me apart bit by bit!”_

_“Maxwell!”_

_The boy’s eyes go straight up and meet David’s, who immediately covers his mouth in shock. The boy, on the other hand, didn’t quite look pissed. More hurt… Like David knew better than to use his full name._

_They shared eye contact for several seconds before Max takes the stuff in his hands, gets up, shoves David out of the way, and exits the cabin in one swift movement. David follows him again, “wait, Max! Oh goodness - Max!” He calls to the boy, who was taking his last step off the porch already. His counselor starts to panic rather hard, arms wrapped around himself tight as he does when he’s panicking, “oh god - oh no - no no no no  - I’m fucking this up,” he lets out, barely loud enough for Max to hear. He then pleads much louder, “Max, please.”_

_This makes the boy stop. He turns to meet David’s gaze, his own eyes glossed over._

_David continues panicking, “I’m sorry, Max - for shouting and for calling you your full name - and for not knowing how to even deal with this situation,” he pleads, standing on the edge of the deck, seemingly unable to move, “I’m so sorry, Max, that your parents are awful and neglectful - I don’t know what to do! For once, I don’t know what to freakin’ do, and it scares me! And it scares me because of what they’re doing to you!” he continues, unable to stop himself now, “I adore you, Max, and I don’t know what to do to fix this and - I’m so scared, Max! For you! I don’t know what to freaking do and I! I just!” he grips at himself harder. Max’s eyes were dripping whether he liked it or not. He watched his counselor completely break down in a manner he had never seen before. The boy didn’t move a single inch._

_“I’m sorry, Max - I’m sorry, I’m going to try and make this better. Please - you have to forgive me - I’m so sorry I’m messing this up so bad, Max, I am so so so sorry. Please please please please please,” he begs, staring into his camper’s mint eyes from several feet away, eyes wide like he was caught in headlights._

_Neither of them move or say a word after David gets out his last breathless ‘please.’_

_The silence between them now felt awful - deafening, really. Max felt like he was going to vomit from anxiety._

_Finally, after several long seconds, Max shakes his head really lightly, tears forming now at a much faster rate. He shrugs, opening his mouth to say something, but he couldn’t. The teen lets out a sob, as he tried to get words out. Then, Max drops his pile of stuff and comes jogging at his counselor, who steps off the porch and opens his arms up wide for the boy to come into._

_Upon impact, David wraps his arms around the small teen, the boy doing the same. He openly lets himself cry once again this summer. Davis lets a hand slides through the boy’s short curls, pressing his brunete head into the older’s chest in a way to calm the boy down._

_The two embrace like this for several minutes, David petting his hair and telling him little phrases of affirmation as well as several apologies while the boy silently sobs into his chest; Max was clinging onto him like all the children today as they saw their parents after a long summer at camp. Clinging onto him like he wouldn’t his own parents, even if they had shown to pick him up. Clinging on like he never had to anyone else in his life._

_The teen breaks away eventually, David keeping his hands on the boy’s shoulders, trying to look into his bright mint eyes. Max kept his gaze cast down with a quiet, “I’m sorry you have to deal with this, David. I know you want to go home.”_

_The ginger gasps, “Max - no - not all. Heck… I get another day at my favorite place on earth. With my favorite camper on earth! If the circumstances were different… I’m sure this would be a dream come true,” David says rather cheerfully, although his face and sharp breaths still read like he was having a panic attack, “I’m so sorry it turned out this way. And that your parents have made this summer awful for you.”_

_Max just shrugs, eyes darting up to the ginger’s chest. A small smile creeps on his face, “your shirts all wet. That’s my fault.”_

_“Oh -” David looks down, taking his hands off the boys shoulder to investigate - the sudden lack of touch made Max look up at David through his tearful eyes. David smiles gently, “don’t worry. Not the first time this shirts been covered in tears.”_

_Max giggles, lifting up the collar of his hoodie to wipe his eyes on. In the process, he got a glimpse of the small fabric patch on the inside of the chest. The hoodie itself was David’s birthday gift to Max - a dark washed out red hoodie that was big on him, just as he liked it. What made it special, though, was that there was a sewn on custom patch on the inside of the chest - it had a small embroidered message from David on it, that the teen liked to peek at every once and again when he felt bad. It often helped the boy hide his feelings away for another time, just as it helped this time._

_“I’m serious. So so so many tears,” David hums, a smile on his voice. He wraps his arms around himself as he walks back towards the almost completely dark forest to collect Max’s pile of clothes and shower supplies he had dropped on the ground. He picks it all up, looking it over before darting his attention up to Max._

_Max stared back at him, unmoving from his spot. The setting sun hit the teen just right, illuminating his brilliant skin in bright shades of oranges. His hair caught the flames of the sun as well, shining a vibrant red with pink undertones. This, mixed with his hoodie shining a vibrant red instead of a washed out tone made him look as if he was raising out of flames - like a phoenix, almost. The only thing that didn’t resemble that of a fire, was the boy’s bright teal eyes that stared longingly at his counselor only a few feet away._

_David, on the other hand, was overcast by the evergreen’s tall shadows, muting his already wild colors - this made him blend in nearly perfectly with the dark woods behind him, almost as if he was the wilderness himself._

_The two maintain eye contact for several seconds before David cleared his throat, “would you like to shower in the counselor’s cabin tonight, Max? It’s much nicer than the bath house.”_

_Max nodded his head, “sure. I guess,” he says, coming towards David. His coloring practically inverts as he steps out of the bright red flames of the day and into the cooling blues of the night. He puts his hands out for his belongs, which David doesn’t give him. The counselor stands there, staring down at the teen._

_Max puts his arms down, before asking calmly, “are you still having that panic attack, David?”_

_The ginger blinks a few times, contemplating what his camper just said, “oh gosh... Sorry. Repeat that? I was zoning out just a tad.”_

_Max  speaks up again, “your face is all red. And you’re unresponsive. I think you’re still in the midst of that panic attack.”_

_“Wha,” David brings a hand up to his cheek to feel if he was warm, “no, no. I feel fine, Max. Here,” he says despite the obvious lie, handing the boy his belongings, “how about you go take that shower, huh?”_

_“Mmkay,” the teen hums, taking his belongings from David before sauntering back into the counselor’s cabin, hurrying off rather quickly to hide his still negative emotions. David stays in his spot for several minutes after, arms wrapping around his torso as he contemplates something rather heavily. After a few minutes, he walks back into the cabin, the bathroom door closed while the water runs. David stands in the doorway for a few minutes, thinking as he wraps his arms around himself tightly. He then decides to take out a book he was working on and sits down on the couch, trying to get himself to calm down from his anxious high._

_Several minutes later, Max comes out in his pj’s, hair damp. He comes and sits down on the recliner next to the loveseat David was on. He sits back, crossing his legs at the ankle once he gets the old beat up recliner to actually recline back. He speaks up, “so what’s the plan then?”_

_David looks up from his book, looking rather tired. He takes a breath before saying, “I think we should call it a night. Stay here and hope they’ll call back by tomorrow. And… I guess if not… I’m going to have to contact the police. Or child protective services.”_

_Max’s eyebrows furrow gently in a concerned manner, but he nods anyways. The boy looks down at his lap. He had changed into a pair of fabric sporty shorts and his hoodie again. He had white crew cut socks on._

_“I got an idea,” David sits up and puts his book to the side, “how about we watch a movie or something?”_

_Max looks up at him, and then over to the TV. He hops up without a word, going over to the TV stand that normally had all their DVDs inside - there weren’t many, as Gwen had taken all of hers back home. He starts to sift through what was left as David comes and sits next to him. Like… Right next to him. Hips touching close._

_“Guess we could watch season 16 of The Joy of Painting,” Max says, holding up a rather large DVD box with Bob Ross on the front, working on yet another nature painting._ _  
_ _David smiles, “gee. What else do we got in there?”_

_Max puts the box back and searches a bit more through all the titles. He pulls out Freaky Friday. He stares up at David, “this your film? Or was it left here decades ago when it was made?”_

_David’s cheeks heat up, “first and foremost, that film came out in 2003, not several decades ago -”_

_“So it IS yours,” the boy grins._

_“It’s a heartwarming Disney film about a single mother and her daughter coming closer together by odd means, of course it’s my DVD!” the grown man pleads, face getting red as he takes it from Max, who just busts out laughing. He lets himself fall backwards as he laughs, which only makes David’s face more red._

_It takes the teen several moments before he gets out, “you are probably the weirdest damn human being on the face of this planet” he grins, peering up at David from his laying spot on the raggedy old rug that attempted to make the living area of the counselor’s cabin more homey._

_David hesitates before he just shrugs, putting the DVD back into the TV stand, “I suppose I am. BUT! That only makes me all the more lovable.”_

_Max just shakes his head, grinning as he looks up at the ceiling. He stays quiet for several moments before looking over to David, “you got a Netflix account?”_

_David shakes his head as he tidies the DVD’s, “nope. Gwen does though.”_

_Max furrows his brows, “you? A single 24 year old man in the ripe year of 2016? You DON’T have a Netflix account?”_

_David looks over his shoulder to the boy - his face softens as he sees him lying there, sprawled out on the rug. The ginger speaks up, “I live a particularly busy life. I don’t have much time for TV,” he says, before deciding to add, “besides, how do you know if I’m single or not?”_

_Max raises an eyebrow, “I’ve been the carrier of your phone every summer since 2012, David. I know all about you.”_

_The counselor’s eyes widen, face going a bit pale, “o - oh?”_

_Max stares at him, contemplating in his head before saying, “yeah. Just about everything that you’ve texted or written down.  All your search history and photos. And you are definitely single.”_

_“Max - that is a huge invasion of privacy.”_

_The younger stares at his counselor with those sharp mint eyes, although David couldn’t quite meet his gaze for more than 5 seconds at a time as his wraps wrapped around himself._

_Was he sweating?_

_Max sits up, “relax. I’m messing with you. I’m not a total creep. I did read some of you and Gwen’s messages though, cuz I wanted to know if you two were fucking. You two, indeed, have never fucked or been fucked in your entire lives,” he says, a smile forming at his face, although David didn’t quite seem to buy it. Max continues, “you’re single cuz you own Freaky Friday on Blu-Ray, all your pictures on your instagram are way too good to be taken with your shitty iPhone 6 Plus, AND you have a playlist on Spotify called 'Self-Care' that’s totally comprised of Hilary Duff, the Backstreet Boys, Aly & AJ, and Gwen Stefani,” the boy says, before deciding to add, “also you texted Gwen a couple days ago about how you were not ready to go back into the dating scene, as you ‘really need to focus on work right now.’” _

_David stares back at him, a panicked smile forming on his face, “riiiiight... Right. Yes! You caught me! I am, indeed, a single man stuck in the 90s and early 2000s.”_

_Max furrows his brows, although he was grinning rather mischievously, “you’re making it sound like you’re hiding something.”_

_“Nope,” David stands up, going back over to the couch to get his book, “just… worried about if I need to… change my bank password or something,” he smiles gently as he sits down on the loveseat. Max observes him from the floor, not quite buying that._

_“Right. Okay, well. Maybe you should change your phone password to not the alphanumerics of the word ‘TREE’, instead. I already have your credit card info memorized,” the teen gets back as he stands up, going over to the desk where they now had a rather janky old Dell computer. David’s phone was also charging over there, so he grabs it as he sits down at the computer. As it booted up, he gets on the phone, puts in the 8733 he just mentioned, and goes to text Gwen._

 

David

Sup bitch can I get your Netflix info

 

_It was only moments later before she typed back:_

 

CBFL!

Max?

 

David

Yeah gimme ya damn info

 

God David has that stupid thing set where it caps the first letter AND there’s auto correction it’s throwing my groove off one sec

 

okay thats better

 

CBFL!

Oooookay. How are you? What are you and David doing?

 

David

that doesnt look like an email and password

 

CBFL!

Yeah, because I’m not going to give it to you twerp. Not unless you talk to me for a bit.

 

David:

snorts

 

guess well be watching freaky friday

 

hey wait theres not even a bluray player here is there

 

okay fuck this im gonna go hang myself by my entrails in the mess hall

 

CBFL!

Oh my God

Okay hold on let me get it for you.

 

_Max grins, feeling triumphant. While he waits for her to get it, he logs into the computer - the password was “password”. He figured that out the day they got it, way back in 2014. He opens up Chrome (which he had to install, because both apparently Gwen and David are idiots who use Internet Explorer) and gets onto Netflix. It was already signed into her account._

 

David

hey i got it nvm

 

CBFL!

Email: [ gwengilles91@hotmail.com ](mailto:gwengilles91@hotmail.com)

Password: TennantIsATen!

 

David

hey what

 

CBFL!

Are you fucking kidding me. I went through all the trouble and you just fucking have it are you for real.

 

David

your fucking password

 

are you even human

 

CBFL!

Fucking unfortunately because that means I gotta deal with little shits like you. What are you and David doing?

 

David

gonna watch ahs on ur account

 

CBFL!

Your parents haven’t come yet or responded?

 

David

yeah they came 14 years ago holla. shoulda been a cumshot tho am i right

 

CBFL!

Fucking hell kid!

 

David

haha

 

yeah no they havent so were gonna just spend the night here in the counselors cabin and wish for the best tomorrow

 

david says hes gonna call the police or cps tomorrow if they dont show up

 

CBFL!

Can I talk to David please?

 

David

idk can you

 

Incoming Call from: CBFL!

 

_Max sighs, “David. Gwens calling you,” he says, the man looking up from his book._

_David gets up, taking it from the boy, and answers cheerfully, “howdy, Gwen! What can I do for ya?”_

_There’s hushed talking from the other end, which makes David drop his happy act rather quickly. He hurries out of the cabin, where it was now nearly completely dark._

_Max sighs, browsing Netflix a few moments before he gets up, rummaging around the cabin. He opens up one of the cabinets, finding an old box of cables. He sifts through it until he finds the right one. He plugs one end into the computer, the other end in the old television, and hopes for the best. He switches a few settings on both the TV and the computer, until he got it to work. He plops down on the couch, looking over to what David was reading -_ How to Kill a Mockingbird. _Max opens it up on the page he had left off on, skimming it over. His skimming turned to reading within a few paragraphs._

_“Max?”_

_“Huh?” the teen looks up from the book - when did he move to David’s bed rather than the couch?_

_David peers at the book in his hand, then back to the teen’s tired eyes, “sorry I was out so long,” he says, coming into the cabin, making sure to not let the door slam, “you okay in here?”_

_Max nods, rolling over on his back and stretching his thin arms out, book still in hand._

_David comes over, “what page are you on?” he asks, sitting down on the bed - the very opposite end. Not hips touching close._

_“Oh - uhhh,” the boy looks at the book, holding it out above his head, “260. I started where you were.”_

_David smiles, “that’s rather impressive, Max. I was at around 230, I believe.”_

_Max hands it back to him, “you can have it back.”_

_The man’s face falls a bit, “were you not enjoying it?”_

_The teen shrugs, “it was fine, I guess for some dumbass classic reading,” he says gently, before asking, “who the fuck is Boo Radley?”_

_David laughs rather loudly, “I suppose that wouldn’t make much sense. Starting in the middle and all.”_

_The teen sits up, “and like… Is Atticus their dad? If so, why the fuck do they call him Atticus instead of dad?” David shrugs gently in response before the teen adds, “they got, like, a sugar daddy thing goin? He’s not actually their dad, but he kinda is? Adoption or somethin?”_

_David laughs, “no no - I think it’s just how Lee wanted to write it. I’m not certain.”_

_“I like my sugar daddy idea better,” the teen says, getting up and stretching his arms out over his head, “what’d Gwen want?”_

_“Oh - uh - just… Stuff about our situation here with your parents and all. She wanted to make sure you were safe.”_

_“Ah. Typical Gwen the mom shit,” he says, coming over to the computer. He sits down and starts to scroll, which shows on the TV, “I got Netflix on the TV, by the way. What do ya wanna watch?”_

_“Oh… Uh… Whatever you want. Just... No horror please.”_

_Max looks at him, pouting his bottom lip while giving him puppy dog eyes - playfully, of course. David just smiles gently, face worried, “sorry. Maybe another night.”_

_“Sheesh. Talking like I’mma be here for the rest of my life,” he says, eyes back on the computer screen._

_David stays silent for several seconds, watching Max from his spot on the bed, “yeah… Yeah, uh… That’s something me and Gwen talked about tonight, actually.”_

_“Oh?” Max says, kicking his feet up on the desk as he browses the site._

_“Yeah - um… we talked about some possibilities of what might be good options for you.”_

_“Without me fucking there? Damn. David the Dad and Gwen the Mom acting like real parents now! Pulling that advanced shit!”_

_David laughs a little forced, continuing immediately, “yes, well. We were only throwing ideas out there. But um… in a scenario where your parents… um… How do I put this…”_

_“Never show up or magically died in some freak accident?”_

_“Um - sure. Yes, that,” David clears his throat, “you’d be taken up by the government and probably would go to foster homes and such.”_

_Max doesn’t say anything, face unreadable as the screen reflects on his eyes._

_His counselor decides to continue, “and I’ve… been thinking about this, actually. That maybe… Instead of dealing with foster homes and such. You could just come live with me!” he beams gently, putting his hands together like he were some alter boy._

_Max whips his head to look at David, whose face falters as soon as he sees the expression on the teen’s face._

_“That’s… a bad idea. Right,” the ginger says, putting his hands down._

_“Actually… Not really,” Max says, shoving his hands into his hoodie pocket, “that would kinda be cool. Better than my parents, at least.”_

_“Ah - right… Right… Well um - that’s only if your parents are unfindable.”_

_Max stays quiet, his face almost seeming to drop just a tad. He darts his attention back to the computer, “right. Last resort.”_

_It’s quiet for several seconds, although it was an awkward quiet. Max speaks up, “you like encouraging, heartfelt, and downright cheesy movies, right?”_

_David looks up from his lap, where he was peering at the back of his hands. He considers this a moment, as he was kind of zoning out, “right. Yes! I do.”_

_“Mmm,” he smiles, “okay,” he says, choosing out a movie without asking his counselor beforehand._

_He plops down on the recliner as the movie started up, grabbing at the remote and messing with the volume. David hesitates to follow the boy. He takes a deep breath as he finally kicks his boots off, as well as taking his vest and hankerchief off. He comes over to the couch, sitting, “so… What’re we watching?” he asks as he untucks his shirt from his shorts._

_“_ But I’m a Cheerleader.”

_“I’ve never heard of it. What’s it about?”_

_“Camp.”_

_“Oh! Well, gee, I love camp! Obviously,” he beams, lighting up almost instantly at the thought of camp - even though he was literally there right now._

_Max doesn’t respond as he gets up and goes over to his duffle bag. He sifts through it, pulling his bear out. He comes back over to the recliner and sits down, holding his stuffed bear close. David peers over and smiles, deciding to not say anything as it would embarrass the boy._

_The two watch the movie without much trouble or interruption, although David did bawl several times through the story._

_After the movie, Max decides against putting something else on, just asking David if he could use his cellphone to call Neil._

_David hands it over without much question, but explained that he had to call Carl’s number instead._

_Max takes the phone, heading out to the deck as he dials Carl Schapiro._

_It rings several times before the older man’s shrill voice picks up, “hello?”_

_“Hi. Mr. Schapiro. It’s Max - uh, Neil’s friend from camp?”_

_“Ohhh! Hi, Max! How are ya? Didn’t see you much today at closing day.”_

_“Yeah - yeah. I’m alright. Is Neil there? Can I talk to him?”_

_“Well, sure! Just gimme a second, kiddo. NEEEEEEEIIIIIL! MAX IS ON THE PHONE FOR YA!”_

_Max has to hold the phone away from his ear as Carl yells for his son. There’s some shuffle before Neil picks up, “Max?”_

_“Hey, Neil,” Max says gently. He felt much better as he heard his bunk mate’s voice again._

_“What’s up? Did your parents come get you finally?”_

_“No.”_

_“Oh… Well, fuck. Where are you now?”_

_“Uh - David and I are just staying in the counselor’s cabin tonight,” Max says, getting up from the step, walking out to the dirt path in his socks to pace while he chats on the phone._

_“Damn. They haven’t answered anything? Call or texts or emails? Nothin?”_

_“Nope.”_

_“That fucking infuriates me, I’ll be honest. That’s fucking child abandonment!”_

_“Yeah. I dunno. Maybe they’re dead or something but no one fucking knows since they’re not really legal. Or maybe they got deported. Who fucking knows.”_

_“You two need to call the damn police or something. This is absolute bullshit.”_

_“We’re going to call tomorrow, I think. If they don’t respond by then. I dunno. Whole things a fucking mess. I just want to fucking go home,” he smiles gently, moving a rock around with his foot._

_“I don’t blame you. Ya know, if your parents never show up, I’m sure my dad and Candy would love to have a third little brat around our house,” his older friend grins, a smile at his voice._

_“I’ll sleep in the attic,” Max smiles, “cuddle up next to the racoons. Use the insulation as bedding. You guys won’t even know I’m there.”_

_“Jesus - no. We could get a bunk bed or something. We can be bunkmates all year round!”_

_“Oof. Yeah, I dunno. Maybe, if you stop staying up every night until 3AM, clacking away on that old ass keyboard.”_

_“Oh no. Of course not. I’ll be staying up until 5AM, clacking away on a state of the art keyboard.”_

_Max grins, thinking this over. That… Sounds nice. Candy wouldn’t be a very good parent, but Carl would! Embarrassing and cringy, sure. But loyal and understanding. The boy speaks up, “yeah, I don’t know. I don’t think I could adjust very well to New York.”_

_“No? I think you’d do rather well up there.”_

_It’s quiet for several moments, Max somehow managed to wander to the docks. He liked how still the lake was at night - like a perfect mirror of the night sky overhead. He speaks up, “I’m gonna miss you guys a lot. Especially Nikki. She still has, like, three more years left of camp.”_

_“Yeah… I know. You gotta promise you’ll stay in touch with us though. Maybe we can all skype once a week or something.”_

_Max just nods, “yeah. Maybe. Is Nikki there right now?”_

_“Uhhh… Think she’s out  in the backyard for the last time before we leave tomorrow morning for our flight. We’re leaving at, like, 4AM.”_

_“Well… you’re gonna be up anyways. Clacking away at your computer. So you should be okay,” Max responds gently, although he felt a bit melancholy about not getting to talk to Nikki._

_Neil lets out a laugh in response, “fuckin’... Yeah. You got me.”_

_It was quiet again for several minutes - it was comfortable though. Max eventually speaks up - he was now laying on the dock, socks off, feet off the edge and hanging in the water, “David said he might take me in if my parents don’t show.”_

_“Oh?”_

_“Yeah. I don’t know. It seemed more of like, something he felt obligated to say instead of an actual invite.”_

_“I guess? David doesn’t really seem like that type though.”_

_Max started to think about the light freckles on his counselor’s face for some reason as he stared up at the stars in space, “I don’t know. I guess we’ll see. They’re probably fine. Dad probably just, like, broke his phone again or left it at work. It’s fine.”_

_Neil stays quiet for several seconds before he says gently, “is it okay though?”_

_The younger teen contemplates this. Neil was right. It wasn’t okay. He responds, “yeah. It was pretty shitty. But it’s whatever.”_

_“Sorry you have to be subjected to their shit, Max. You don’t fuckin’ deserve this. I hope at the very least, the police or child protective services can step in and do something to fix their goddamn bullshit.”_

_“Yeah. Me too.”_

_“Hey uh - my dad wants to talk to you again. Sorry. You have my number, right? Just in case?”_

_“Yeah. I got it written down,” that was a lie. He had it memorized._

_“Cool. Okay - I’ll talk to you in awhile. Keep me updated, man! Don’t just fucking leave me hanging.”_

_Max smiles gently, “I won’t. Let Carl have his damn phone back, will ya.”_

_“Oh god - don’t call him that,” Neil says, presumably handing the phone over as his dad picks it up again, “hiya, Max. Listen - I heard a bit of your conversation with my boy Neil here. Your parents didn’t come pick you up?”_

_“Yeah - no, they didn’t.”_

_“Oh boy… Okay. Well listen, son. If you ever need a place to stay, you’re welcome in my home, okay, champ? You just say the word, and we'll get you a plane ticket out here, K?”_

_Max smiles gently, although there were tears welling in his eyes. He liked being called ‘son’ or ‘champ’. He speaks up, “thank you, Mr. Schapiro.”_

_“Of course. You got my number. Call us if you need absolutely anything! And I mean that! Alright?”_

_“Alright. Thank you.”_

_“I swear, I’d come pick you up right now. But I think you’re in pretty capable hands right now. So…”_

_Max laughs, “right. Yeah… David’s… pretty okay I guess. Not any Carl Schapiro though,” he jokes, making the older man laugh for several moments._

_"Okay okay. You go get some rest. You’re probably going to be having a long day tomorrow. Like Neil said, keep us updated!”_

_“Okay. Will do. See ya, Mr. Schapiro. Thanks again.”_

_“Anytime, son. Seeya!”_

_“Bye,” the teen says, hanging up. He drops his arm to his side, taking a deep breath - that doesn’t do much, as tears started to stream down his cheeks again. The boy sits up, bringing his knees up to his chest, hugging them tightly as he does so. He lets himself silently cry for several minutes - it wasn’t until mosquitoes started to nip at him, that he started to get pissed and heads back towards the counselor’s cabin._

_He comes up the steps to the cabin, seeing David through the window reading his book on his bed. It looks like he had taken a shower, as his hair was all wet and he was now changed into pajamas. He was sitting on top of the covers, back up against the cabin wall, and his legs were crossed at the ankle. He looked particularly engrossed in his book._

_Max takes a breath before coming into the cabin._

_His counselor looks up from his book, lighting up just a tad upon seeing the boy, “hiya, Max. How'd it go?”_

_“Good,” he says, sliding David's phone into his hoodie pocket._

_“Good! I set up Gwen's bed for you,” he smiles, nodding to the bed across the room, “fresh sheets and everything. Just for you - whenever you decide you want to go to bed.”_

_“Thanks,” the teen responds as he drops his muddied socks into the duffle bag, puts on a clean pair, and then grabs his bear from the sofa and bringing it over to Gwen's old bed. He sits on it, putting his clean pair of socks on - crew cut and white like his last ones. He takes a deep breath as he looked around the room once more. He takes the phone out, laying on his belly the opposite way on the bed - legs towards the pillow. He opens up one of the several games he had downloaded and plays on that for several minutes._

_It was quiet in the cabin besides Max's light tapping and David's page turns._

_The counselor got in maybe 10 pages, before he finally sets it down to look up at Max - the boy, however, had fallen asleep. David smiles gently, as the boy had basically just collapsed - he still held the phone in his hand loosely as he slept._

_David stares at his camper for a bit, seemingly contemplating something rather heavily. He gets up, socked feet quiet on the concrete floor of the cabin. He comes over to Max, gently sliding the phone out of his hand as he admires the sleeping boy's face up close._

_His long, thick eyelashes lay gently on his round cheeks as he slept, full lips apart juuuuust slightly. His hoodie stretched gently as he breathed._

_A light panic set into David suddenly, coming up from his crouch, knees popping as he does so. He gets up, promptly going into the bathroom to do his nightly routine._

_When he comes out, nothing had changed. Max was still laying wrong ways on the bed, but he was now curled up._

_David refrains from admiring him again, going to turn his nightstand lamp on, and then to turn the overhead light off. He grabs a quilt off his own bed, coming over to drape it over Max gently as to not disturb the sleeping teen. After, he goes and sits in his own bed, putting his legs under the covers this time. He opens his book and reads for a bit - maybe another 10 pages or so._

_He hears Max rustling, looking up from his book to see the teen sitting up, rubbing his eyes. He had his bear loosely in one hand. He relaxes, peering around the room, over to the digital clock on David's night stand. 11:34. It was late. He lets out a yawn, before getting up and sliding over to David's bed. He climbs up, inviting himself to lay next to the counselor who just kind of eyes him. It was only until the teen tucked himself under the covers that David protested, “actually - Max - campers and counselors aren't… Supposed to share beds or anything. It's in my contract, and I could get in a lot of trouble for letting you do this.”_

_Max opens his eyes lazily, looking over his shoulder and up at his counselor, “there’s no one here to report you. Is there?” he grumbles, turning back on his side, facing away from David, stuffed bear in his arms. The counselor stares down at the boy, thinking this over for several long moments._

_He reaches across Max, setting his book down on the nightstand. He flicks the lamp off, before scooting over against the wall to perhaps give Max more room, or to make the divide between them greater as they didn't have much room on the twin sized bed._

_David lays on his back, looking up at the ceiling. Tonight was going to be another long, sleepless night for the camp counselor. Not the first time the insomniacs been through a long night. However, this was the first restless night with a camper in his bed._

_That same camper moves to lay on his other side, gently resting a small hand on one of David’s - a small, but affectionate way to keep their contact without causing too much trouble. That was fine… Right?_

_David closes his eyes, focusing on his breathing._

_Everything was going to be okay._

_Tomorrow, they were going to find Max’s parents._

_And David could go back to his apartment and focus on work._

_And he can get all the sleep he needs in his own bed, cuddled up to his cat, with absolutely nothing to worry about…_

_And like that, somehow, David managed to fall asleep faster than he had in months._

 

The gentle rubbing of long, delicate fingers brings Max back into the waking world. As he resurfaces, he puts together the world around him: the sound of the TV playing filler music, the feel of the quilt wrapped around him, the warmth of David’s chest. Oh yeah. That’s right…

The boy groggily opens his eyes to the fabric of David’s beat up painting shirt, gently rising and falling as he breathed, signalling he was alive and well. He lets his eyes fall closed again, feeling David’s arms wrapped around him carefully, fingers grazing gently at his back in random patterns. Max focuses on David’s heart beat - gentle and soothing, singing a song that was so familiar and comfortable to everything on the planet. A song of survival through all odds and of love no matter what. The boy smiles, feeling himself fall in love with David all over again, as he always seems to do. It was a hopeless crush he’ll never grow out of - there was no way David felt the same way. Hell, Max felt like he himself shouldn’t feel that way either - but how could he not fall so deep in this trance when David held him so comfortably? Fluttered his eyelashes when making eye contact? Sends morning texts every single day? Makes dinner and breakfast and sometimes little lunches without even asking? Tells him words of affirmation just because he felt like it? Seriously, how could Max not want to spend the rest of his life with this stupid, goofy, ball of sunshine man-child he’s known for as long as he could remember?

Max opens his eyes and looks up at David, who was staring off out the window, watching the trees sway with the breeze. He seemed like he was somewhere else. Not here - not laying on the couch in his apartment with his roommate in his arms. Somewhere distant.

The older of the two notices Max was peering up at him with his bright teal eyes. They make eye contact, David smiling very gently, which makes Max melt, as if he were falling for David for the first time again. The ginger brings a hand up and pushes a few curly locks out of Max’s face, before returning his attention back out the window.

The brunet stares at him a moment, before bringing his head back into David’s chest. He closes his eyes again, focusing on the warmth radiating from David. Just like the sun’s warmth. It’s silent for several minutes.

“Max?” A quiet, small voice finally asks.

“Mm?”

“Do you like living here?”

Max thinks this over before he looks up at the ginger, who was still looking out the window, “of course I do, dummy. I’ve been here like a month now.”

David stays quiet, staring out the open window, watching trees sway and cars pass. After several moments he adds, “it’s not just… Because it’s convenient? Or that anything is better than your parents’?”

Max had very rarely heard David’s tone of voice like this, so he knew something wasn’t quite right. The teen sits up, hair a mess from their nap, “fucking… Not at all. I mean, okay, yes, this is a million times better than my parents’ place could ever be. But like. I’m staying with _you,_ David. And as fucking weird as is might seem? I legitimately enjoy it.”

“Are you sure? You can tell me the truth. I’d rather you do,” David says, looking up at Max with those big dark eyes - like a snapshot of a lush evergreen forest.

The younger’s face softens just a tad, “I _am_ telling the truth. K?”

David just keeps looking up at him, dark ginger eyelashes fluttering as he contemplates what his roommate just said. Max laughs, “besides. I literally just said I’d move into a fucking _one bedroom_ apartment with you,” he grins, playfully flicking David on the forehead - he smiles lightly, a delicate hand coming up and rubbing gently at where the boy hit him, “yeah. You’re right. Sorry.”

Max furrows his brows, “why the fuck are you sorry? That’s a real fucking concern,” he pauses for several moment, his face dropping just a bit, “besides, I can see where you’re coming from. I’ve been kind of taking advantage of your hospitality. And the fact that you're the one paying the bills."

Now it’s David’s turn to sit up. Both of their legs were still under a quilt, kind of tangled together loosely as they were rather close, “not at all, Max! You literally have not asked for a single thing while you’ve been here. You eat very little and take very quick showers. You don’t leave lights or fans on. And, you’ve been nothing but helpful, Max. To me personally, as well as to the upkeep in the apartment. I don’t have to do any housekeeping when I come home from work. It’s taken such a load off of my shoulders. So. Thank you.”

The boy just kinda shrugs, “it’s whatever. I should still find a job.”

David’s face softens a bit - Max looks up and notice his hair is all shuffled and messy too. The teen smiles as David adds, “if you want to. But please know that I don't mind paying for bills or for necessities. You do so much around the apartment and have saved me from so many crises’ at work,” he laughs.

Max chuckles a bit, “I still can’t fucking believe you found a frog in your salad. The first day of fucking school too,” he grins.

“Right? Goodness. I screamed so loud, a teacher from three rooms down came in to check on me,” he smiles.

The teen stretches his arms up for several second before relaxing, “you do have a very - uh - ear piercing scream,” he grins, getting up from the couch and turning the TV off - it was still playing Weather Channel graphics and tacky music, although the statistics were all updated to account for the 2 hours they were asleep.

David watches him closely as he turns it off, thinking something over in his head. Max comes over to the window and peers out. He speaks up, “what time is it?”

“Oh - uh,” David pauses to check his watch, “a little after 5:30.”

“Fuck. M’kay,” he says, “I should get started on dinner pretty soon.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah,” Max says, turning to face him, “remember on Wednesday? I said I would make dinner tonight?”

David scratches the back on his neck, “I wasn’t sure if you were serious about that or not. But now that I know you are, I’m rather excited,” he smiles gently.

“Good. I’m hoping it turns out okay. I haven’t made it in awhile,” he says, stepping back from the window, plopping down on the couch once more. David hesitates before scooting over and wrapping his arms around the teen, who gladly reciprocates. Although - the way Max was sitting made him kind of fall backwards, the ginger on top of him. David lays with his head on the teen’s chest, taking him in - Max hopes to fucking god his heart beat wasn’t going at 300 miles per hour. He wraps his arms around David as best as he could, the two laying kind of awkwardly on the couch together.

They laid like this for several minutes, completely quiet and comfortable. Max speaks up, “hey, David?”

“Yes, Max?”

“My legs are falling asleep.”

“Oh,” he smiles gently, before sitting up so Max could swing his legs off the couch. He scrunches his face up, “they feel all… staticy. You know?”

David laughs, “oh gosh… Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he says standing up and shaking one leg out at a time. He must have looked particularly funny doing this, as David cracked up. Max looks over, “hey now. Don’t fucking laugh. You did this.”

This, however, did not work, as the ginger keeps laughing. He stands up, wrapping his arms loosely around the teen's waist and kind of sways him playfully, “you’re so silly, Max. You know that, right?”

“I’m shaking my fucking legs out because of something you did,” he barks back, despite a small smile on his face - he places his hands cautiously at David’s waist as well. He liked how touchy David was. It was comfortable.

“No no - it’s endearing. Don’t worry,” the ginger grins, looking Max in the eye, “it makes my day a whole lot brighter. Just being with you and all.”

Max sticks his tongue out at David, who laughs before doing the same back. This makes the younger of the two laugh, pushing David away, “god - okay. Let’s go get your room back to normal. The paint should be fine now,” he says, walking back over to the room. Smokey was laying outside the bedroom door, sprawled out with his fat belly showing. Max grins, gently placing a socked foot in the soft of Smokey’s belly, who doesn’t even seen bothered.

They go into David’s room and start to move all his things back to normal, chatting a bit while they do so. That takes maybe 45 minutes as they goofed off and David made sure everything was juuuust right.

As soon as the last knick knack was placed properly, Max goes out to the kitchen to get started on their dinner. He brought up a recipe just to make sure he was doing it right, and starts to get to work.

As he did so, David came and went, explaining he was going to clean out his room a bit of old clothes and things he didn’t need anymore. Max stayed busy in the kitchen for nearly an hour, listening to David rambling to himself, the shuffling he did in his room, as well as things being shoved into plastic trash bags.

It was nearly an hour later, Max calls out to the ginger, “hey, Daviiiiiiid!”

The ginger peeks his head out from the bedroom, “yes?”

“Dinners ready,” he states, reaching through the window over the bar, placing a plate on the bar itself. David comes out, now with a dark green hoodie over his ratty t-shirt, that perfectly complimented his eyes. How the fuck did he even look good in fucking hoodies?

“This smells amazing!” He beams, taking a seat, “thank you, Max.”

The teen shrugs, “eh. The least I can do,” he comes around with his own plate, sitting next to him, “this is one of my favorite dishes of all fucking time. Paneer Saag,” he explains, “my parents always took me to his Indian cuisine place a few blocks down and this was all I ever got,” he says, before adding, “don’t worry about those cubes. That’s a type of cheese, not meat.”

David grins, a light flush going over his cheeks as he gets a good amount on his fork. He pops it into his mouth and lets out a light hum. He grins, looking over at Max, “seriously. I don’t know how you do it. This is amazing.”

He shrugs, “maybe you just like Indian cuisine,” he says, taking a rather large bite himself before talking with his mouth full, “I know I do. I mean. Okay,” he chews a bit, “as a first-generation immigrant? Yeah. This and like, fast food is all my parents fed me.”

The older of the two smiles endearing, “well it paid off. You’re extremely talented at cooking now,” he says as he continues to dig into his meal.

The two finish off their plates, David finishing first, complimenting and thanking him several times over after he was done.

Max cleans up dinner as David finished clearing out his room, bringing three bags out into the living room - one was labeled “trash” while the other two were labeled “Goodwill.”

Max was a little melancholy as David was trashing his clothes, kind of wishing to go through them and take anything that might peak his interest. Well - not that he would wear them. They’d stop smelling like David after only a few days if he did that.

David brought that plastic table out to the couch, and then his sewing machine and quilt out. The two sit on the couch for a bit, Max turning on Netflix. After a few episodes of _Bojack Horseman_ , he gets up to go take a shower.

The teen goes to find his duffle bag of clothing, but unable to find it in its usual spot behind the couch.

“Hey, David?”

“Yes, Max?”

“Did you move my shit?”

David looks up from his quilt, peering at him for several moments before it clicked as to what he was talking about, “oh! Your bag?”

“Yeah.”

“Yes, it’s - goodness. You know,” he gets up, “I’ve asked you so many time if you wanted to move your stuff in, and you always tell me no,” he walks over to his room as Max followed, “so I just - moved it in myself. Figured we might as well, since we’re going to be officially living together soon,” he says, opening up the closet door, pointing to a very very small section of hanging clothes, “your hanging stuff is there. And your pants are up there,” he points up to a shelf on top of the rack where the clothes hung off of, “and your socks and pjs and such are in this drawer,” he says, coming over to his dresser and opening up one of the bottom drawers. He looks up at Max, “is… is that okay?”

The boy scratches the back of his neck, “uh - yeah. Yeah, that’s chill. Thanks, David.”

David tries to read the teen’s expression, but can’t quite pinpoint it. Max continues, “I have a concern though,” he says, coming over to the closet. He reaches his arms up to where his pants were stacked and then looks over at David, “I can’t fucking _reach_ the top shelf.”

The older of the two hesitates before busting out laughing. Max puts his arms down, peering at the ginger crack up. David eventually calms down, “goodness - Max. You are such a treat. Here,” he says, coming over and effortlessly taking the stack of jeans off the shelf, “we’ll need to put them into a drawer. How about that?”

Max shrugs, “sure. As long as I can reach _that_ ," he comments, which makes David laugh again, “oh my goodness.”

“Whaaaat?” the teen grins as David puts his pants into a drawer.

“Nothing, nothing. You’re just… Gosh. You’re something else,” he smiles gently, rustling up the boy’s hair before leaving the room to go continue working on his quilt so Max can shower.

The teen gathers some pajamas to change into before heading into the bathroom. He turns the water on extremely hot as he likes it. As he waits for the shower to heat up, he takes off his shirts, peering at himself shirtless in the mirror. He turns around a few times, gandering at his body through disdainful eyes.

Could David love him even if he looked like this?

Could he love him without the several layers of too-big clothes to drown out his frame?

Could he love him even if he looked like a 14 year old boy with patchy body hair and a growing pouch at his stomach?

The mirror fogged up as he started to poke at his belly - thank god, because he was probably going to go into another mood if he had continued to examine himself so in-depth. He steps into the shower, his whole self relaxing under the extreme heat. He takes a deep breath as he lets his eyes fall closed - it was warm and comfortable like a cup of hot coffee in the morning, or like a home cooked meal of a repressed childhood. Not like the arms of an individual whom he so adored. That was a different type of warm and comfortable which he so badly longed for.

There was a light tapping at the door, alerting Max back to reality. How long had he dozing off?

“Yeah?” He calls over the patter of the shower, not bothering to turn the faucet off.

David says something from the other side of the door, but he can’t quite make it out. He turns the faucet off much to his dismay, “what’s up?”  
“Can I - um - can I come sit in there with you? Just for a bit.”

This had happened a few times this last summer, so the boy wasn’t alerted too much, “sure. Doors unlocked.”

David comes in, making sure to close the door behind him to keep the warm, humid air in the small bathroom. He hops up onto the countertop and sits with his back against the mirror, knees up to his chest.

“Everything okay, David?” Max asks gently from the other side of the curtain, turning the shower back on. He hadn’t even begun to wash himself off yet.

“Um - yeah,” his gentle voice says, “I just need to be with someone right now I guess.”

Max stays quiet, thinking about the few times David asked to come sit in the bathroom while they were counseling together. Usually he was in a funk or a bad mood, which was rare for David - often the result of little sleep or children picking on him.

“Did my dumbass say something?” Max hums gently, rinsing his curly hair off - he nearly melted at how nice the hot water felt on his scalp.

David laughs gently, “no, no. It was nothing about you. You’re perfect as always, Max.”

Max’s stomach knotted. Now wasn’t really a good time for David to go being all sweet, seeing as there was just a flimsy cloth and plastic curtain separating the two men, one of which was very exposed.

“Was it one of your students?” Max decides to ask.

“No. All my students are amazing this year. Thank goodness,” he responds, a smile to his voice. He then continues, “I don’t know. I don’t think it was anything in specific. I’ve - felt kind of off all day. And I’ve been distracting myself with quilting or busy work or with spending time with you. You always manage to make me feel incredibly better, you know that, right?”

Max starts to lather his hair with shampoo - why did that make him feel guilty? Guilty for doing what? _Helping_ David feel a bit better?

No - it went beyond that. Max felt bad that David thought _Max_ was good, supportive company, while he clearly wasn’t a very healthy person himself. Max, of course, didn’t mention this as he speaks up, “well, I’m glad I can aid you in feeling a bit better.”

David doesn’t respond, listening to the sound of the shower patting away at the bathtub and walls, intervened by Max - the way the water comes down in thicker drops as it got caught on his body or in his hair. The teen, on the other hand, just focused on washing all the soap out of his immensely thick, curly hair.

“Hey, Max?”

“Mm?”

“Do you think I’m clingy?”

The brunet stays quiet for a few moments, watching the suds drift down the drain, “I wouldn’t really say you’re clingy, per say,” he starts, thinking of the right words, “you’re highly affectionate though. And maybe people who _aren’t_ affectionate might take that as clingy. I dunno. Who told you that?”

“Oh - uh - no one?” he laughs gently, “myself, I guess.”

“Well, what drew you to that conclusion though?”

David stays quiet for several moments as he picked at his nails, contemplating this, “just how people sometimes react to me. Or when I’m in a relationship with someone or whatever. I practically suffocate them,” he says, before panicking just a tad, “not literally! Metaphorically suffocate them!”  
“Pffft, I didn’t think so, David. You don’t really take me as the uhhh... I-love-my-partner-so-much-that-I-accidentally-murdered-him-while-having-sex type.”

David lets out a light laugh, bringing his knees up closer to his chest.

Max continues, “okay, listen. If you’re so worked up about it, maybe you need to find someone just as ‘clingy’ as you are?” he shuts the water off, “and by clingy, I mean outwardly affectionate,” he says, wringing his hair out before peeking out from the shower curtain, “can you hand me my towel please?”

David finds the dark green towel next to him on the countertop, getting up to hand it to him without a word.

“Thank ya,” Max says gently as he closes the curtain to dry off. As he does so, he asks, “what do you mean ‘how people react to you’?”  
David ponders this a moment before saying, “I’m just a lot to handle, you know? I… I just love people so much. And my affection, I suppose, doesn’t translate well, so I end up kind of driving them away. And…” he pauses, thinking this over for several moments before he adds, “and I’m afraid I’m going to do the same with you.”

Max feels his heart jump just a tad, “that’s not gonna’ happen, David. And if we _do_ grow apart, I assure you, it’s not gonna’ be your goddamn affection that does it,” he says, poking his head out of the curtain again, “real quick, hand me those clothes next to you, will ya?”

The ginger picks up the pile of Max’s change of clothes, handing it to him and then sitting back down on the countertop with his knees up to his chest again. Max continues from behind the curtain while he got changed into his clothes, “you’re not gonna lose me, David. I think you’re underestimating your spot in my life.”

It takes nearly 30 seconds before David responds, “you’ve known me for so long though, Max - it’s going to only be a matter of time until you get tired of me too,” the ginger pleads gently, eyes down as he picked at his nails.

Max draws back the curtain and steps out of the bathtub, now that he was fully dressed in his PJ shorts and a big t-shirt. He comes over in front of David, just kind of examining the man for several moments before he says, “hey, David. Look at me.”

David hesitates before looking up at Max with those dark green eyes that seemed so much deeper now that he was showing his vulnerabilities - it tug at Max’s heart, making him want to scoop the man up and magically fix all his problems and self-doubts. The teen continues slowly and cautiously, as he wasn’t very good at words of affirmation, “you mean _way_ more to me than anyone else in my goddamn life,” he says, struggling to keep their eye contact. David was so beautiful, and seeing him hurt made Max feel awful. He saw his own insecurities, and there was no way in hell he would wish that upon anyone, “you treat me like a normal fucking human being. You, for 10 long goddamn years, have adored me and worked towards what’s best for me. And anyone who refuses that sort of affection is a goddamn fucking fool,” Max grins, which makes David smile shyly in response.

The two sit there for several moments, taking in each other’s presence. David sits up, opening up his arms for a hug, which the boy gladly accepts. They were quiet as they embraced, listening to the dingy whirring of the fan attempting to clear out the humidity, listening to the shower-head dripping it’s last few drops of water, listening to one another’s gentle breathing as they attempted to survive this life.

Max breaks the hug, looking up to David’s eyes, “you okay?”

The ginger nods, “yeah. Thank you, Max. You always seem to know how to cheer me up,” he smiles rather gently.

“Good!” Max grins, before going and getting his dirty clothes from just outside the bathtub. He collects them and then waltz out the bathroom, “we still got a couple hours until your bedtime, old man. What do ya wanna do?”

David watches him leave, quickly sliding off the countertop to follow him out. Max throws his clothes into the washing machine; it was already pretty full of dirty clothes, so the teen started it up without David even having to ask.

The older of the two stands by him while he starts up the machine, “uh - we could watch a movie? Make some popcorn,” he suggests gently.

Max nods, “sure. Anything in specific?”

The man scratches the back of his neck, watching at how Max was setting up the wash cycle. The ginger comes in, changing the main dial, “I usually put it on ‘Sanitize’ instead of ‘Normal’,” he says gently, “it gets rid of all the cat hair,” he smiles, meeting the boy’s eyes. They were particularly close right now, but they kind of had been all day - that being said, Max wasn’t alarmed by it, “no wonder it always turns out better when you do the laundry, I always thought you were just, like. Midas but with clean laundry,” Max responds, which makes the ginger laugh loudly.

“Goodness!” David eventually gets out, leaning up against the machine as Max poured more detergent into the tray, “no, I promise I am not some kind of laundry god, Max,” he smiles, cheeks a bit red.

“I dunno! I think you are. Or maybe you’ve just been ‘round the block a few more times than me,” he hums, slamming the tray closed, and then starting the washer. He exits the hallway, out to the living room. It was darker now, the last few slivers of sunlight peeking over the mountains. David’s sewing stuff wasn’t there anymore, so Max presumed David had moved his setup to his room once more. The window was still left open, the sheer curtains billowing with the breeze as they had been all day. Max comes over and turns the lamp on that was besides the couch, while David stood awkwardly in the doorway from the hall to the dining and living area. While Max was showering, he had changed out from his painting clothes, and into a pair of PJ pants and a plain t-shirt that fit him well.

Max looks over at him, noticing how David’s arms were crossed in a matter of holding himself. He knew, that even though David had said he was okay earlier, that he still was feeling bad. The teen speaks up, “did you want to make that popcorn?”

David processes this for far longer than he usually would, before nodding his head, eyes lighting up just a bit, “sure.”

The ginger walks over to the kitchen, where he starts to go through the pantry for a box of microwavable popcorn. Max, knowing what David needed to feel better, followed him closely, “what movie do you wanna’ watch?”

“Ummm,” he hums, eyes in the pantry, shifting things aside to look, “I was thinking we could watch that movie you mentioned last Wednesday night. You said it was a psychological horror?”

Max contemplates this a moment - all his favorite movies were in that genre. He hops up on the counter besides the sink, thinking back to their conversation before it clicks, “oh! Fuck. _The Shining_?”

“Yes! That’s it,” David smiles, finding the box and taking it out, “hey, want two separate bags, or to just share one?”

“Uhhhh. Just share.”

“Gotcha,” David responds, taking a bag out, shoving the box back into the pantry. He takes the plastic wrapper off, and then puts the unpopped bag into the microwave. He punches in the time, before leaning up against the adjacent counter from Max. The teen speaks up, “you sure you’re up to watch a horror film?”

He nods, “mmhm. As long as you stay by my side,” the older of the two smiles warmly, making Max’s heart jump. He doesn’t really know what to say, so he doesn’t. And that was fine - they were comfortable enough with each other that there didn’t always have to be talking. In fact, they were quiet for most of today besides the occasional bantering. And quiet it was, besides the sound of the microwave whirring in an attempt to heat up and pop the kernels, which it was failing at so far.

David and Max share a mutual, comfortable eye contact before the ginger takes a few steps towards the teen sitting on the counter. He puts his arms out, Max gladly accepting the hug. Fuck, he loved today. Today was such a nice, content day. He wished everyday of his life could be like this. Of course, besides David being upset.

The ginger stood between the boy’s legs, arms wrapped around his small waist, while Max had his arms wrapped around David’s neck loosely. As they embrace, Max feels an overwhelming feeling of bliss and comfort.

They were embracing to save one another’s lives, as well as their own in the process. Now, together instead of separate. This was now _their_ apartment. _Their_ kitchen. _Their_ home with _their_ countertop and _their_ microwave, busy popping _their_ popcorn. All of this that they shared, but this was _his_ David. Or… Max felt that way. Really, the only thing missing was the official title.

He felt like he and David were almost exclusive. David made the effort to invite the boy into _his_ home. And together, even though they both had their issues and their problems, the two of them made it _their_ home. A comfortable place, with comfortable family.

Max had never felt so welcomed into a family before.

Definitely not his own, that’s for sure.

The ginger hugs the teen tighter, waking him from his doze - how long had he been day-dreaming? The microwave was no longer whirring, which means it had been at least a minute and a half.

David scoots Max off the counter, holding him close to his body near _effortlessly_ with his arms under the boy’s bottom, supporting him. The teen, in return, wraps his legs around David’s waist, clinging onto him like most children after seeing his parent after a long summer at camp. The older of the two hums gently, carrying the teen rather slowly out of the kitchen. Max finds his eyes falling closed again. He liked this. As stupidly childish as he probably looked, he liked the feeling of being held and cherished and loved… all the affection he was denied as a child. Affection he hadn’t gotten to experience until he was eighteen years old.

David hums gently, kind of swaying while the boy was still in his arms - his own eyes were closed as well. He slowly makes his way over to the couch, where he sits Max down first, leaving his hands on the boy’s shoulders as he lowered himself in a crouch - his knees popped loudly. The boy peered up to meet David’s gaze - despite the kind smile on his face, his green eyes had that troubled depth from earlier in the bathroom.

Maybe this was beyond anything Max could help with.

Cuddling seemed to help David - or just touch in general. Fuck, it helped Max too.

Of course, the two of them wordlessly understood this, as David crawls up onto the couch, long legs sticking off the side where the arm rests was. Max, of course, comes and lays next to him, laying on his back. How they were laying on the couch, they were parallel to the TV, heads closest to the window.

David lays on his side, looking at Max with those dark green pools, through long yet light colored lashes. Max feels him staring, and turns his head to peer at him back. The teen smiles, “what?”

David shrugs as best as he could while laying on his side. A small grin was forming on his face.

Max cocks an eyebrow, his grin getting wider, “whaaaat?”

The ginger smiles, hesitating before stating, “it’s weird.”

“I don’t fuckin’ care. Tell me.”

They maintain eye contact for awhile, the older of the two looking over Max’s facial features before stating, “I’ve been thinking a lot about closing day 2016. I don’t know why. I might have dreamt about it a couple days ago or something.”

Max stays quiet for a moment, looking back up to the ceiling, “yeah. Me too, actually.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I don’t know. I guess… Like, moving out of my parents’ and stuff. Kinda makes me think about that thing you said. About, like, taking me in if my folks didn’t show.”

David smiles ever so gently, “yeah. I often think about what that might have been like too.”

The teen stays quiet as he observes the ceiling. There was a cobweb billowing in the breeze like the curtains, “too bad they showed. Idiot fucking parents got fucking arrested the night before closing day. I swear that weed was planted. It _was_ 2016.”

“Mmm. You’re saying that like it’s not still happening today,” David says gently, which makes Max bust out laughing. The teen eventually adds, “god, true.”

It’s silent again between them, David keeping his eyes on his roommate - who was busy examining that cobweb. It’s several minutes before Max says, “I feel like our relationship hasn’t been the same since then.”

“What do you mean?” his voice was small and gentle. Barely above a whisper. Max felt his whole body melt, as it was right in his ear basically.

“We got a lot closer that following summer. Like… I don’t know if that was just because Neil and Nikki weren’t there that year or what. But, fuckin’ hell. I was in your cabin every second of every day that summer,” he grins before adding, “that whole summer felt real weird. Did you feel that too?”

David smiles gently, “yeah. It had such a different feel from past years. I don't think it helped that Gwen wasn’t there anymore.”

Max stays silent a bit, pondering this over in his head as he pucks his bottom lip out. He then laughs, looking towards David again, “there’s a picture of me from that summer in your classroom. The one where you’re sleeping? And I took your camera?”

David laughs rather loud, “oh shucks! Yes… I do. It’s one of my favorites.”

Max bites his bottom lip as he smiles widely, “Charly was getting so pissed at me coming in every two fucking seconds and bugging you. I told ya! I was like ‘oh she just wants you for herself.’ Your dumbass never believed me!” he flicks the older in the forehead, who chuckles in response. Max adds, “seriously. I knew she was bad news,” the teen says, before laying to where he was on his stomach, propping his upper half up by his elbows. He starts to mock the old counselor Charly with a light southern accent, “ _oh, David! Would you be a dear n’ help me out with all these heavy dinin’ hall boxes? I jus’ got done doin’ my glute exercises n’ I don’ wanna’ make my butt TOO big! Tee hee!_ ”

“Max!” David exclaims, despite laughing. He lays down on his back rather than his side, running a hand through his hair as he peers up at the ceiling.

The teen continues with the voice, “ _David, dear. Would you like any of this dark chocolate I got? A gentleman gave it to me today in town because he said I was just sooooo gosh darn purty,”_ the teen grins, playfully putting a hand on David’s chest to mock the girl, “ _oh, and did you know that dark chocolate is a natural aphrodisiac? Who woulda’ thought! Tee hee!_ ”

David just laughs, running a hand over his face. His cheeks were getting rather red.

Max, obviously continues, “ _David, my dear, will you please tell little Maxwell to stop stealin’ all my gosh darn earrings? I am tryina’ gussy up for our spaghetti date tonight but that lil varmint stole my pearl earrings!”_

David’s eyes light up, removing his hand from his face, “you did NOT!”

Max cackles, “did too. Wore ‘em around camp before promptly losing one of them. Boy was she PISSED.”

“MAX!”

“I know, I know! I was a rowdy fuckin’ kid! Besides, she was trying to get dressed up for _canned spaghetti and meatball night_ at camp. If you’re gonna choose a meal to dress up for, chicken nuggets and mac n’ cheese is where it’s at.”

David rolls his eyes, a wide smile still on his face, “I cannot believe you actually did that. And that I didn’t know about it!”

“Mmm. Yeah, that’s because I found the receipt for em. She got them for 3 dollars at Wal-Mart. She pleaded for me to not tell you, because she wanted to be seen as classy or someshit,” the teen grins, “and I made her a deal. She didn’t tell you I stole her 1 dollar and 50 cent earring, and I didn’t tell you that she thought 3 dollar earrings were fancy.”

“But you just told me!” He grins, “you broke your promise, Max!”

The teen shrugs, “eh. She doesn’t have to know,” he says gently, looking down at David through the dim light of the room. The sun was completely gone now, the lights in the kitchen and the lamp besides the couch were the only things illuminating the man’s features. He admires his roommate's beautiful face for several moments.

Max got the overwhelming urge to kiss the man.

Fuck. He wanted to so bad… The ginger’s lips looked so soft and warm; his bottom lip always having a light sheen to it, making him seem like a doll almost.

The boy, of course, did not. Instead, he just laid down on his back again. The two look up at the ceiling, side by side, shoulders touching.

After several quiet minutes, Max turns his head, looking at David, who does the exact same motion at the exact same time. They make eye contact, green eyes meeting green eyes. The teen lets out a content sigh. _Mere inches._

Eventually, Max speaks up, “you want me to turn on that movie?

“If you’d like. I personally kind of just like talking to you,” David responds, his voice small and sweet. Max liked just talking to David too. His ex-counselor’s voice seemed to soothe him. Something so familiar, yet soothing.

And so, they did ‘just talk.’ For an hour and a half, actually. Neither of them got up once to turn the lights off, or to remove the cold popcorn bag from the microwave. They just laid there, side by side, hands or legs just slightly entangled as they talked about camp and their new apartment together and even the possibility of getting another kitten to be Smokey’s friend.

It was after that hour and a half, that David said he was going to go try and get some rest, as he was feeling rather drowsy. He got the popcorn out of the microwave, turned the kitchen lights off, brushed his teeth, and wished the younger of the two a good night.

Once the bedroom door closed, Max felt alone again. He wanted to go knock on the door and plead to come inside and lay with him, like a child who was having nightmares would do to their parents.

Shit. Was _he_ the clingy one in this relationship?

Max shakes it off, turning Netflix on real low to watch more _Bojack Horseman._

He watched five episodes until he had to call it a night, practically falling asleep towards the end. He turned the TV off, closed that damn window finally, and turns the lamp off. He curls up on the couch, quilt wrapped around his small frame like a cocoon.

He liked today. Today was very nice, but he wished David hadn’t been so upset.

Did he do everything he could have done to help David get through his bad mood?

He wished he could cuddle up with David tonight. A ‘sleepover’ as David called it.

Max imaged it was David’s chest he was resting on rather than his pillow, but it wasn’t the same. Nonetheless, the boy still drifted off in mere minutes after settling into his makeshift bed.

 

Several hours later, Max is awakened by a tall figure cautiously taking a seat at the edge of the couch. He lazily opens his mint eyes, peering up at David whose eyebrows were tightly knitted with what looked like worry - it was hard for the teenager to tell, as the only illumination was from street lamps outside the living room window.

Max lays on his side, lifting up the quilt in a nonverbal way to tell his roommate to lay down next to him. David, of course, takes the opportunity. He slides in next to the brunet, making himself comfortable by curling up into the teen's chest.

Within seconds, Max falls asleep again, leaving David alone in his restless thoughts again. But, actually... Much to his surprise... feeling Max’s deep breaths graze his head, listening to the heartbeat keeping him alive, and feeling his roommate's thin arms wrapped around him; this combination lulled the insomniac straight into the best goddamn rest he’s had since their last sleepover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for how long it's taken me to release this chapter. So many things have changed in my life, and I've had very little time for stuff like writing and drawing. Again, this chapter has been written for months, so no promises on when the next chapters coming out. I want to write more, but we'll see how it works out with my home life. I'm hoping that maybe finally releasing this chapter (and season 4 coming out soon!!!!) will spark some creativity. The maxvid community has been so beaten down, so most of my inspiration has been diminished. RIP all my fellas.  
> Stay tuned for more content hopefully soon!!! And hopefully we can get to the actually angst of the story lol.


End file.
